The effects of poorly designed buildings in terms of limited access to sunlight on critical times rnaffect the health of building occupants and become the growing concerns about global warming, rnOzone layer, depletion of fossil energy source and soaring oil prices. So, planning in a way to allow rnfor sun access by regulating the form, height, orientation and organization of the built rnenvironment is important. This paper deals about the design and applicability of solar envelope rnto residential houses of Ethiopian cities to get access for solar or shade right. Solar envelope is a rnbuilding volume limit that will not cast shadows on surrounding buildings at specified times so as rnto create comfortable indoor climate for humans based on the sunâ€™s movement (time) relative to rnthe location and geometry of a site (space). The concept of solar envelope was first developed as rna framework for architecture and urban design at the University of Southern California (USC) over rnthe period 1969 to 1971 by Professor Ralph Knowles. For this end, NCEP stations found all over rnthe country were tapped and their heating and cooling degree days have been computed rncorrelating the respective temperature with the standard base temperature, 18.3 ornc. Besides, rnreference cities were identified after the regionalizing Ethiopia based on their respective degree rndays. Then, sun path diagram for each region has been prepared and used to identify the critical rnsun angles, Azimuth and Altitude of the sun, for the specified time ranges. Finally, parametric rnsolar envelopes have been developed for each zone of reference city and this will be a basic for rnenergy efficient envelope building creation.