I'm in process of designing my house. It faces the north and currently, the bedrooms and bathrooms are on the east side, the kitchen, laundry and living area is on the west. The double garage is also on the west but is at the front facing north. Since the sun rises on the east and sets on the west, which side would be ideal to put the bedrooms or living area according to passive solar designs?

Have a read of this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=31&t=55057&hilit=+solar+orientation

For effective passive solar design you really need to maximise north facing windows which doesn't seem possible with the layout you describe.

I would say that the best thing would be to have the larger windows on the East and the rooms with smaller windows on the west. That way you will get some warming of the house from the east in the morning but will limit the overheating of the rooms from summer sun in the afternoons/evenings. I would also go for some reflective coating of west facing windows.

If you are designing your house from scratch there is so much you can do to achieve a very comfortable solar passive home. It will cost a bit more than an off the plan build, but over time will pay for itself in spades.

Our existing house faces west, but has a Right of way/lane running down the north side. We essentially put a box on the back of the existing Edwardian house with loads of north glass. Living in Melbourne we measured the path of the sun over the seasons and used that to adjust how much shading we used over the north glass in summer. We also added east and west facing windows on the north side but notched them in so they catch the morning and afternoon sun in winter, but are completely shaded in summer.

The result has been everything we had hoped for, whenever the sun shines the house requires no heating, no matter how chilly it is outside. Along with the north glass the extension is double glazed and has a concrete floor which acts as a great thermal bank. By comparison the existing/ period front of the house is a fridge. These rooms are our bedrooms and we only heat them a little in the morning to take the edge off.

If you can get some solar passive design into your plans go for it !!!

so the bedrooms and shower on the west and put small windows and the living area on the east side with large sliding doors opening to the alfresco on the east side ?

mr_chook...where in Australia is your block? That will also have some impact on your design

my block is in Sydney, NSW thanks

I think jodge has already suggested that you post your plans here:
viewtopic.php?f=31&t=33027