North arrow

A north arrow, kuzey oku in Turkish, is the symbol on a plan or map that shows which direction north lies. It appears on site plans and floor plans. Drawings are often rotated to fit the sheet, so north is not always at the top of the page; the north arrow is the most reliable way for a reader to get their bearings.

Why it matters

How much light a room receives through the day, and which facade stays warm and which stays cool, depends on orientation. Without a north arrow, someone reading a plan cannot tell whether the bedroom gets morning sun or which way the living room faces. Decisions about sun shading, eaves and windows rest on this information too. On a site plan, the north arrow also helps read the plot’s relationship with roads and neighbouring buildings correctly.

North in a render

In architectural visualization, a sun and sky system is only as good as the model’s orientation. Once the model is aligned to true north, the shadows for a given date and time can be shown close to reality. That is valuable both for giving the client a convincing image and for testing how the design works with the sun. It is also good practice to check whether map data uses true or magnetic north, as the two can differ.