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For full context, see here: https://www.docdroid.net/hK45eJm/img-20170916-0001-new.pdf

it is taken from line 7-8: また、建物の向きは、風や太陽の向きを考えて決められている。風の抵抗を少なくし、夏は涼しく、冬は暖かく過ごすためである。

=> "Then, concerning the buildings inclination, it was decided considering the inclination of wind and the sun. Because it takes care of that the wind resistance is low and that it is warm in the summer and that it is cool in the winter."

"to take care" is classified as an archaism on jisho http://jisho.org/search/sugosu so I wanted to ask wether this archaic interpretation is justified here or if I just understood it all wrong..^^

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    Does your TL make sense to you? (It does not to me.) Upon reading the original, what exactly made you think that 過ごす was being used for its archaic meaning?
    – user4032
    Sep 16, 2017 at 17:21
  • I corrected the "cool in the winter" to "warm in the winter". Otherwise I think it makes sense. cool in the summer, warm in the winter, low wind resistance are properties a house should have. "to overdo" made a lot less sense than "to take care of". "to take care of" means that you try to fulfill a task, in this case it would be the task of building a house that resists the elements.
    – Narktor
    Sep 16, 2017 at 17:40
  • "takes care of" was edited in. Indeed the TL before didnt make much sense due to the typos.
    – Narktor
    Sep 16, 2017 at 17:41
  • 1
    What if you tried the first meaning of 過ごす on Jisho?
    – mamster
    Sep 16, 2017 at 21:28

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また、建物の向きは、風や太陽の向きを考えて決められている。風の抵抗を少なくし、夏は涼しく、冬は暖かく過ごすためである。

The 過ごす means "to spend (time)". From 明鏡国語辞典:

すごす【過ごす】🈩他動詞
❶ 時間の中に身をおいて生活する。一定の時間を送る。「幼年期を外国で過ごした」「休日は家族と一緒に過ごす」「郷里で余生を過ごす」　　

And in your example:
「夏を（～に/～くetc.）過ごす」"spend the summer (in the manner of...)"
「冬を（～に/～くetc.）過ごす」"spend the winter (in the manner of...)"
(The contrastive は's have replaced を's in your example)

The ～ため means "so that (they) can..." "for the purpose of..."

So 「夏は涼しく、冬は暖かく過ごすためである」 literally means "It is for the purpose of spending the summer cool, and the winter warm".

breakdown:
また、 and; also; besides
建物の向きは、 as for what direction the building faces,
風や太陽の向きを考えて considering the directions of the wind and the sun
決められている。 ...has been decided.
風の抵抗を少なくし、 make wind resistance smaller; decrease wind resistance
夏は涼しく、冬は暖かく過ごす spend the summer cool and the winter warm
ためである so that (they) can... / it is for the purpose of...

Put together:

And, as for what direction the building faces, it has been decided considering the directions of the wind and the sun. It is for the purpose of decreasing wind resistance, and spending the summer cool and the winter warm.

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  • Ahhh, yes now I see :D 風の抵抗を少なくし the し is the conjunctive form of します here, right? I somehow totally overlooked that, which is why I made すごす the predicative of all three expressions 風の抵抗を少なくし、 夏は涼しく 冬は暖かく here :D Thanks :)
    – Narktor
    Sep 17, 2017 at 7:51

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