History of Sunrooms: When and Why Were Sunrooms Invented?

Sunrooms have been there for ages. This might leave you in awe but this is the ultimate truth. In some form or the other, sunrooms have been popular in many cultures for centuries – perhaps even longer than you might think.  

Authors Ken Butti and John Perin are the two renowned authors who have described the evolution of today’s modern sunroom.    

Let’s explore the Sunroom’s evolution around the globe.  

China, 6000 BC 

From an architectural point of view, sunrooms as a medium of supplementary heating have their roots thousands of years ago. Around 6000 BC, the Chinese had built the opening to their houses facing South so that the Sun would heat the interior.  

Two thousand years later, Chinese urban planners constructed the streets in the towns to run from East to West, therefore giving homes a Southern view and a source of heat in winters. Even today, Chinese still prefer a home that faces South.   

Greece, From 500 BC – 100 BC 

If we talk about ancient Greece, both Socrates and Aristotle advocated designing houses that could benefit from the Sun to provide heat during winters. Socrates himself lived in a solar-heated house. It was later on discovered by archaeologists that the Greeks took the philosophers’ advice, and implemented plans for all city and rural homes to face the winter sun. 

Italy, 100 BC – 500 AD 

Vitruvius, one of Rome’s greatest architects, wrote about using the Sun to heat buildings after seeing solar houses in Greece. His advice was followed and bathhouses from 100–500 AD were built with large, south-facing windows to allow the heat of the Sun. The windows were covered using a transparent stone like mica i.e., a natural substance like glass which breaks easily into thin layers and is not damaged by heat.  

The Romans then discovered that the transparent glass acted as a solar heat trap, keeping temperatures inside the room warm and cozy.  

The rich Romans covered their South-facing winter rooms with glass or mica. The rooms were covered with glazed windows also called a ‘heliocaminus’, which is also known as ‘solar furnace’.  

These glass Roman windows created high temperatures in the house than earlier Greek solar homes with the uncovered windows.   

If we talk about the second century AD, glass and other transparent materials were used to cover windows. By reaching the sixth century AD sunrooms in houses and public buildings were used so much that the Justinian code created sun-rights to ensure individual access to the Sun.  

Italy, 14 AD – 37 AD 

Now, let us take you to Italy where the ancient Romans had built greenhouses to help plants, fruits, vegetables grow and mature in winters and to raise exotic plants at home. The early form of Roman greenhouse was first developed when an ailing Emperor Tiberius was given Armenian cucumbers by his physicians.     

Houses dedicated to growing plants irrespective of the season were built with a translucent roof made from thin sheets of mica to allow more sunlight to enter. 

Oiled translucent cloth sheets such as specula, mica was used for the roof. Fires were maintained constantly outside the stone walls to heat the air inside the house.   

The resourceful gardeners of the emperor had also grown beds of the Armenian cucumbers on the wooden carts and had rolled them into the sunlight in the day. During the night, they used to move them inside the secularism to keep the room warm.  

During the winters, cucumbers were stored in a hole in the ground and covered with translucent and shiny stones such as mica or selenite crystals like selenite - a colorless, and glassy variety of gypsum.  

Italy, 1201 – 1300 AD 

Now, let us take you to another century where the first true greenhouses were built in Italy around thirteenth century and were known as Botanical Gardens. These gardens were developed to store tropical plants from around the globe for conducting medical research and were also designed to capture enough warmth and sunlight for the plants to grow and flourish.  

The first two botanical gardens were located at Salerno and Vatican.  

Korea, 1450 AD 

In the 1450s, greenhouse development occurred around the world. Just for example, in Korea, temperature-controlled greenhouses were built using underfloor heating system to maintain humidity and heat during the winters.     

Italy, 1545 AD 

Around 1545, the first orangery i.e., a Greenhouse or sheltered place for orange trees and other plants was constructed in Padua, Italy. This is to house orange trees and other citrus fruits in winter. This was a practical building that could be totally covered with sacks and planks. It was also heated from inside with open fires.  

At the end of the Eighty Years’ War in 1648, orangeries became quite popular and fashionable, especially in Germany, France and Netherlands.  

The technology of glassmaking can now provide large numbers of clean windows for these orangeries, which had many tall windows which faced South as well as sloping tiled roofs and brick walls. The rooms were heated with stoves and later in the nineteenth century, floor heating systems were used. Just in time, orangeries became a status symbol among wealthy as these were built in the grounds and gardens. During summers, citrus trees, the tub plants, and cape plants were brought outside for decoration purposes. 

 

Health Benefits of Greenhouses 

Greenhouses do not just benefit plant life but also human health, say the industry experts.   

In the early twentieth century, hospitals also started using glass rooms to help patients recover from illnesses such as pleurisy, pneumonia, and tuberculosis.   

At the same time, the homeowners who liked covered back patios and front porches were looking for ways to increase its use. To accomplish this task, some also added storm windows to their screened-in porches for winter season.  

At Present  

Sunrooms are more popular than ever. Now, sunrooms are not only used for entertainment, decoration, or other purposes but are installed because these help in increasing real estate value. Today, if you decide to get a sunroom installed, you will get a lot of variety in terms of design, sizes and types to choose from. To get a sunroom, contact Strong Build Sunrooms and Patio Cover.  

One can use sunrooms in a variety of ways such as home office, entertainment room, sanctuary and even as a guest bedroom. To know more about the uses, read here.