Problem
Look at the north sides of the buildings which you know. Almost everywhere you will find that these are the spots which are dead and dank, gloomy and useless. Yet there are hundreds of acres in a town on the north sides of buildings; and it is inevitable that there must always be land in this position, wherever there are buildings.
Solution
Make the north face of the building a cascade which slopes down to the ground, so that the sun which normally casts a long shadow to the north strikes the ground immediately beside the building.
Related Patterns
… even if the building has been correctly placed according to South Facing Outdoors (105) and there is little outdoor space toward the north, there is usually still some kind of area or volume on the north face of the building. It is necessary to take care of this north-facing place to supplement the work of Indoor Sunlight (128) and Sunny Place (161).
Use the triangle inside this north cascade for car, garbage, storage, shed, a studio which requires north light, closets - those parts of the building which can do very well without interior sunlight - Car Connection (113), Bulk Storage (145), Compost (178), Closets Between Rooms (198). If it is at all practical, use a white or yellow wall to the north of the building to reflect sunlight into the north-facing rooms - Indoor Sunlight (128), Light on Two Sides of Every Room (159), Garden Wall (173) …
Alexander, Christopher. A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction. Oxford University Press, 1977, p. 761.