Presents an experimental approach to and preliminary results of measurements of bidirectional solar-optical properties of shading fabrics. Presents transmittance and reflectance distributions for three translucent and four opaque fabrics, as a function of altitude and azimuth angle, for selected incidence angles of simulated direct solar radiation. Notes that even conventional fabrics exhibit fascinating directional solar-optical properties.

KEYWORDS: Solar radiation, experiment, laboratory testing, measuring, textiles, shades