PLATE 01 · VICTORIAN CONVERSION
The front room has the sun until 18:22.
14:45 · sun 35° · 1 of 4 rooms in sun51.5°N · 19 Sep · clear sky
Every room, this minute
Clear sky · hours of direct sun anywhere on the room’s floor, found by the same test that draws the gold in the render above.
Outside
Whole day, clear sky · horizon profile of what stands around it · no glass in the way.
The same rooms, all year
One mid-month day per cell · clear sky · direct beam at the sunniest point on each room’s floor.
Every plant, where it stands
5 standing · 1 getting by · 3 want moving
Boston fernHall0.0h
Low this month
Forest-floor light is dim and indirect; fronds have no defence against direct sun.
Fronds thin out and the centre of the plant stops producing new growth.
Nephrolepis exaltata · Humid forest floor in the tropical Americas, in dappled shade.
Fiddle leaf figIn the bay5.5h
Bright direct this month · Bright indirect from Nov
It begins as an epiphyte near the canopy, so it expects strong light and sulks without it.
Drops lower leaves one at a time and leans hard toward the window.
Ficus lyrata · Lowland West African rainforest, where it starts life high in another tree.
MonsteraFront room corner0.0h
Low this month · Bright direct from Oct
It grows up trees toward light but under a canopy, so it is built for bright, broken light rather than open sun.
Leaves stop splitting and come in small and whole; stems stretch toward the window.
Monstera deliciosa · Understorey of Central American rainforest, climbing toward gaps in the canopy.
PothosMiddle of the apartment0.0h
Low this month
Adapted to dim broken light under trees; it will live almost anywhere and grow faster where it is brighter.
Variegation fades to plain green and the vines go leggy between leaves.
Epipremnum aureum · Forest understorey in the Society Islands, trailing and climbing in broken shade.
Snake plantKitchen window0.0h
Low this month
It tolerates almost anything because it evolved where the light is unreliable and the water more so.
Growth stops entirely, but it will sit unchanged for a year before complaining.
Dracaena trifasciata · Dry rocky ground in West Africa, full sun to deep shade.
Fit is a month-long question, read at the plant’s own spot. It does not move with the hour rail.
The brightest spot in a room is found once, over the whole year, so every reading of that room is of the same square metre.