​Leaves are turning, the days are getting shorter, and COVID is on the rise in most states, including mine. The “everybody outside” strategy was great for reducing coronavirus transmission during the summer, but what about the months ahead? 

Landscape architects like me know that outdoor spaces are almost always designed for warm weather, even where it’s only really warm for a few months. Spring and autumn are gorgeous in many places, yet it’s rare to find an outdoor space designed for use during these shoulder seasons, forget winter.

Last time we looked at the basics for an outdoor space for cold weather.  This time it’s about the frills. 

What does a good winter space need - the extras that make it special?

Look good in low light 
Use lighting to highlight the assets, and let winter’s low light hide everything else. 

Plants with winter interest 
Yes, summer’s flowers are fading, but evergreens of all kinds carry on. Dried seedpods and grass plumes, shrubs with bright berries that persist, and trees with colorful or peeling bark all brighten up the cooler months.

Materials with winter interest 
Brighter colors, textures, lights again, reflective qualities. We tend to think that everything needs to be drab during winter. Don’t do that. The time for bright colors is now. 

Plan for winter views, screening, and extent 
When the leaves fall off the trees, every view becomes bigger. This is an asset if you suddenly have a water view from your deck. Not so much if you now have a view of the neighbor’s dumpster. 

Encourage wildlife, both birds and critters 
Birdfeeders and food for squirrels and other backyard wildlife are a real highlight of the cooler months. Don’t forget that some of those plants with winter interest are also attractive to birds. 

Fire 
Fire gets a special mention, because it’s such a draw. Warmth, light, but also our fascination with the flickering lights and the companionship of feeding and tending something that seems almost alive. Obviously, be safe with open flames, but don’t underestimate what a firepit or bank of candles can do for your winter space.

Need more inspiration?
​Check out the Winter Cities Institute, old pros at this outside-during-winter stuff, probably in places far colder than where you are.

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​“But what about winter?”

Every conversation about moving activities with people outside ends with this, whether it’s about school, working at home, or anything else. This was true even before coronavirus attacked the planet, back when I was teaching college students about research on people and environments. Nature does a lot for us, including making it much harder to catch COVID. But what about the half of the year when nature itself is a hazard? 

Landscape architects like me know that outdoor spaces are almost always designed for warm weather, even where it’s only really warm for a few months. Spring and autumn are gorgeous in many places, yet it’s rare to find an outdoor space designed for use during these shoulder seasons, forget winter.

Is it possible to be comfortable outside in cold weather? 
What’s a good winter space even like?


Good winter spaces… 

…function in winter
Choose seating and tables for all-weather use and attractiveness. Stone or concrete gets cold; metal of any kind gets even colder. Plastic and wood are better choices. Or use cushions.

Design for ice: textured pavement, excellent drainage. Ice becomes a problem as soon as night-time temps drop below freezing, which can happen well before it gets too cold during the day. Dark pavement holds the day’s heat longer and will freeze later and melt sooner.

If you live where it snows, have a plan for how to move that snow and where to put it. If there’s piles of snow every winter, make sure those piles are out of the way and everything still works around them. 


…are comfortable
Maximize sun and southern/southwestern exposure. Make the most of the heat you have.

Use thermal mass to hold heat - stone, brick, and any kind of pavement are what you need, either as walls or on the ground. Don’t forget building walls. These will keep an outdoor space warmer for a while after the sun sets. Again, any kind of dark material absorbs more heat from the sun, giving it the edge here.

Windbreaks, primarily to north/northwest/west. A calm space is a warmer space, because wind chill exists. Plenty of restaurant patios could get another month of use with a simple wind break.

Shelter from snow and ice. Roofs, canopies, and tents can hold in heat and block wind, but they also block the warm sun, so be careful with them. 

Any heat source, including fire. Fire is psychologically warming and hard to resist on a cold night, but it’s also, y’know, fire, so proceed with caution.

Good lighting. Five pm in November is a lot darker than 5 pm in July. Lighting can do a lot to make a space attractive, even magical, in ways it’s not during the daytime, so don’t just go directly for the big floodlights. Lighting comes in cool and warm tones, as well - use warmer tones. ​


Remember: active people are warm people. Social distancing makes this difficult, but if you can, let people move around instead of being stationary. Lots of days are too cold to sit outside, but warm enough to walk. 

Next time: how to take your winter space beyond these basics.

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​This week we’re back to working at home, specifically more about making yourself a great workspace outside. Why now, at the end of the summer? Because, as a lifelong outdoors person, I can tell you September and October are some of the best weather for outdoor living, especially after this brutally hot climate change summer. Plus you can push comfort in outdoor spaces farther into cold weather than you’d think, something we’re all keenly interested in this year, and something I’ll be posting about soon. 


Without further ado, here’s your landscape-architect-approved…
 
Five More Ways to Make a Great Outdoor Workspace: 
(or Study Space, for those still-at-home kids)

Fan/heater 
For real luxury, add an electric fan to that outdoor workspace. This can be as simple as plugging a portable fan into an extension cord, or as elaborate as installing a ceiling fan into the porch ceiling. Fans help with flying insects, too, if that’s an issue. You know about patio heaters and other heat sources outside, but let me point out two things: 

1) if you want a patio heater, buy it immediately, because as soon as this extra-hot summer wanes, there is going to be a big demand for those this year.

2) working by a firepit sounds delightful, but from personal experience, it doesn’t happen. Nothing is as distracting as fire. You’ll have a marvelous relaxing few hours sitting by the fire…and doing no work at all. 

Storage space
Outside you can’t leave papers and electronics spread out for days, which is both a plus and minus. You’re forced to be more organized. There are outdoor cupboards and such on the market, but I’d approach this like working in a library or coffeehouse or other public setting: you bring it with you and you take it with you. 

What you need therefore is a good bookbag or a portable file box or something of that sort. You’re at home, so this storage could be more fun: beachy tote bags? A clean wheelbarrow? Those bike panniers you never use (and the world’s shortest bike commute)? 

Space for a guest
Whether that’s a sibling, a spouse, or someone genuinely from the outside world, you need a place to sit - a movable chair - and maybe a spot for a cup of coffee. If you’re having in-person conversations with anyone you don’t live with, outside is the safest place to do it. For kids studying outside, that guest is likely to be you, helping with lessons and technology. Make yourself comfortable while you try to remember math about fractions.

Fun stuff
There’s a whole universe of patio, pool, and backyard accessories out there to liven up your outdoor space with. Maybe keep the inflatable pool toys out of sight of your Zoom camera, but there’s still plenty of space for some strings of lights, flags, or flowers, which brings me to:

Use the nature you’ve got 
​Looking at or being near plants and non-threatening animals makes humans like us more relaxed, less depressed and anxious, and less mentally fatigued. Has there ever been a time when we needed this more? What you need is some greenery in your view most of the time. Trees are better than just lawn, but even a flower pot is worthwhile. Extra credit for backyard birds, maybe attracted to a birdbath or feeder. 

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​Back in the early part of the lifetime that this pandemic has surely lasted, I posted about working from home. What if you want to do that outside, and take advantage of this global emergency to conference call in the fresh air? 

Plenty of people I know are asking a similar question about spaces for their kids to do school work outside, at home. Good news: it’s a pretty similar set of requirements, regardless of the size or age of the worker. So what do you need?

A good school/office workspace outside needs:

Freedom from distraction, especially noise.
Don’t face traffic. Think about where the air conditioner is and don’t sit right next to it. If you’re going to be on the phone or talking via Zoom, put yourself somewhere you don’t feel like you’re constantly being overheard. Consider investing in a speaker or two to boost your computer’s sound, in case of neighboring lawnmowers or other loud phenomena. 

Comfortable place to sit.
Better yet, a selection of comfortable places to sit, each suited to a different task or time of day. Maybe a chair for using a laptop, a soft seat for watching videos or interacting via Zoom, and a lounge or hammock for reading. The material of these seats makes all the difference in how comfortable they are in different conditions: metal is cold yet also hot; plastic is neutral (though not as durable); cushions are far more comfortable in cooler weather (but take them in when it rains).

Table or other stable, flat surface for laptop, books, writing, and so on.
The right height for this is essential, and the relative height of chair and table is also essential. It’s the difference between fatigue and hours of comfortable use.

Good light.
That means no glare in the direction you are looking, no baking in the sun, but also enough focused light to read and do other non-screen tasks. Even during the day, a comfortably shady spot can be a bit dim to read in. Outdoor lamps exist, but lanterns or even headlamps can be fun alternatives that will be easy to repurpose when all this is over (or light your way through the zombie apocalypse, whichever).

Not too windy, not too stuffy and still.
Since this is personal taste and can vary with the day’s weather, the best way to handle this is to let the worker customize shelter to suit his/her tastes at the moment. Freestanding screens can work. Making the various chairs and seating themselves mobile will work, too, since it lets them be shifted to a warmer or cooler spot. 

Electric outlet(s) and solid wifi + cell service.
Providing an outlet can be as easy as plugging in an outdoor-grade extension cord. If you do, take the time to route it where it won’t be easy to trip over and/or tape it down. Fun additional resource: a solar bank charger, probably useful even on cloudy days, and another way to sneak a bit of science into the home-school day. (Also handy the next time the power goes out. Ask me how I know.)

Last bit of advice: ergonomics matter outside, too. No one wants carpal tunnel as a souvenir of the pandemic.

More tips coming soon in Part 2!

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​Church or other worship services outside is a new 2020 idea that isn't new at all. From a COVID-19 perspective, indoor worship as usual has some problems: lots of people, indoors, in close proximity, for an extended period of time. Singing, shaking hands, hugging - all a viral playground. 

Move the service outside, and it’s a lot less risky. In my career as a landscape architect, I’ve designed plenty of prayer gardens, memorial gardens, and other outdoor spaces for churches and temples. Here’s a place to start:

Five ways to make church outside work:

Make people comfortable 
Shade, air circulation, comfortable seating (maybe everyone brings their own chairs). Less obvious: make it easy to look at what you’re supposed to look at, when you expect people to be there. So no glare behind the pulpit or other spot where the speaker will stand. Facing the morning sun of the east has historical meaning behind it, but facing north or south is a more practical choice for minimizing the squinting for both leaders and congregation. What do you do if it rains - a tent? Umbrellas? Cancel? Make a decision and work that into the plan.

Quiet really matters 
You need to be able to hear people talking, without amplification, so no spots next to the highway or the loud HVAC units. If your service includes music, people need to be able to hear it. Don’t make anyone yell. Basically, noise = amplification = more trouble and expense in AV equipment. But also, sound is important to creating a spiritual atmosphere. Maybe that’s windchimes or bells, or the wind in the trees, or the whispered prayers of the other parishioners. 

Accessibility
Outside is full of potential obstacles to those with mobility problems. Make sure your worship space is as level as possible, with a smooth surface that allows those using canes or walkers to navigate it. No steps, especially between parking or drop-off and the space. Also important for people with infants in strollers and for anyone setting up and tearing down before and after services. 

Restroom access
You’ll need it. Glorious as it might be to have a service in the woods way out behind the building, the trek to the restroom will be less glorious for every small child, pregnant lady, and older man with prostate trouble. No steps between the restroom and the space, either. 

Tap into outdoor traditions
The difference between being forced outside into a miserable substitute for normal and having an enriching and meaningful new tradition is mostly attitude and a little bit of effort. What’s your faith tradition’s history of outdoor worship spaces? From ancient rituals and gardens to 20th century camp meetings and revivals, there are a lot to explore.

Finally: yes, it is absolutely worth it to create an outdoor worship space in places where it snows. It’s August. Snow is months away, and the effort you need could be as little as having people bring chairs to set up in a shaded spot. Once this long hot infectious summer finally wanes, there’s ways to create a good Winter Space, too, and if necessary, that could include spaces at your church. Another post on that, coming soon.

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​My sister is a teacher, so my messages are filled with the latest last newest update on her school’s ever-changing plan to reopen in a few weeks, or not, or sort of, or maybe not. It’s in flux, it’s maddening, and it’s very high stakes. I bet your school is the same. 

Flexibility helps, and outdoor spaces could give your school just that, since   coronavirus experts agree that outside is safer. If you’re against restarting in-person instruction, maybe the most vital in-person activities could be done outside. If you’re in favor of in-person instruction, but want lots of safeguards, moving some activities outside can help with that. If you’re one of the many people in the middle of this debate, meeting in person but outside is kind of an in-the-middle solution. 

I spent years designing outdoor spaces for schools and teaching others how to design them. It’s not just playgrounds and ball fields. 

Think about: 

Small meeting spaces
If everything else is virtual, but you just have to have a certain conversation or lesson or demonstration in person, this is place to do it. You don’t need much: a couple chairs, maybe a small table, but for maximum sanitation, people could provide their own folding chairs (and sanitize the table before and after). A chalkboard or whiteboard would be helpful, and fine outside as long as temperatures are above freezing. Position this space somewhere as free of distraction as possible, perhaps facing a wall of the building or an area of trees, not the parking lot or a road with traffic, with shade and protection from wind. A small elementary school might want three or four of these spaces, distant from each other as well, maybe marked with large colorful signs to make it easy to determine which one you’re headed for.

Teacher/staff lounge
Think of your deck or your favorite restaurant patio - that’s an outdoor lounge area. At a school it’s vital that this area be screened off so that kids and parents aren’t constantly wandering in, and you need some audio privacy - not next to the playground or the main entrance from the parking lot. All outdoor lounge spaces need shade and protection from harsh winds. Since hand sanitation is the name of the game right now, a sink would be ideal to include, but if water isn’t available nearby, at least a big jug of hand sanitizer needs to be included. 

Outdoor classroom 
A lot of schools have one of these already, but they were more popular years ago than now, so it’s probably older and maybe not used much. This could be the time to change that. Look for a semi-circle of simple benches somewhere, and be advised that if those benches are wooden and old, they may be tough to adequately sanitize between uses. Also be advised that putting a tent without walls over the outdoor classroom could make it a lot more useful. 

Small-scale gyms 
A spot to run around with a couple other kids or siblings could be really valuable, especially at schools where many families don’t have yards of their own. Playground equipment is problematic as shared surfaces that lots of little hands touch, so you need somewhere else. Maybe shared equipment is out, but you can do a lot with marking paint on the ground.  A bench here for adult supervision is a nice touch. 

Many paths to entry
Schools usually funnel all foot traffic to certain entrances, kids here, teachers there, visitors here. Social distancing demands that we do the opposite, and disperse that traffic as much as possible. Schools are required to have a lot of fire exits, so there’s plenty of doors, but think about how people get to those doors, especially from parking lots, local streets, and bus stops. You need lots of signs, maybe color-coded ones, maybe even temporarily repainting the doors to match that color-coding or painting lines on the ground like hospitals do. The trick is to make these many new paths to doors work with these other new outdoor spaces, so that visitors aren’t walking through the small meeting spaces and so on. You’ll likely need a master plan, a map of the school grounds with everything drawn on it. 

But it snows here!
Yes, many places in this country have at least a few months of the year where it’s too cold or too wet or both to be outside. But it’s less than you think. All the techniques used to make your favorite restaurant patio comfortable on chilly nights work for outdoor school spaces, too, like portable heaters and wind barriers. Most schools have at least some masonry on their facades, which holds heat from the sun, so any spaces next to a west- or south-facing wall will stay somewhat warmer. It should also be said that it’s well worth putting on a sweater and hat to bring COVID cases and deaths down. 

And if you can’t get enough of all of this, my final statement to you is:  forest kindergartens 

​
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​At this point, there’s more or less consensus that if you have to be around other people during this pandemic, the best place to be is outside. Ergo countless ad hoc outdoor spaces for dining, working, and just hanging out. You know who’s really great at creating outdoor spaces that aren’t ad hoc, ones that actually work well? You, the landscape architect. This is your moment.

Before the list, a note: a full-scale professionally designed outdoor space is a major endeavor, taking time, plenty of money, and usually licensed contractors. It’s a lot for a business to take on right now, and of course, we need everything outside right now, not in 6 months or next year. Enter the ad hoc part.

But consider: anyone can carry a folding chair outside. Someone with skill can place that folding chair where it works the best, looks the best, and is the most comfortable. That someone is you. It’s a great moment for minimalist projects using that skill with off-the-rack furnishings, repurposing what’s already at hand, and making the most of what’s already on site. 


Five potential projects from the pandemic

1) Outdoor gyms and workout spaces 
In my town, people are using the area around the high school track for burpees, strength training, agility courses - all the stuff they used to do at the gym. I’ve also seen people doing yoga on mats spread on the gravel parking lot of a local park. Clearly there’s an unfilled need.
 
2) Outdoor meeting spaces, at offices and other businesses
A conference room outside needs what a conference room inside needs, plus shade, shelter from wind, and hopefully at least a little privacy. Bonus points for any kind of calming vegetation. 

3) Outdoor dining, obviously. 
You knew this one, but realize that so much of this is done terribly, even before the pandemic. It needs to be comfortable for the diners and the servers, and right now that means giving waitstaff plenty of space. As customers tiptoe back into eating out, outdoor dining needs to not just be safe, but *look* safe, as well as inviting. Sound challenging? That’s why you hire a pro to design it.

4) Outdoor hair salons/barbershops
The nation is crying out for a haircut, and the safest way to do that is outside. We can do better than a folding chair on the sidewalk next to the parking lot, can’t we?

5) Outdoor school spaces
A big category that’s super-timely, as debate roils about what’s going to happen come fall (fast approaching,  regardless of what the seasons say). We’re familiar with outdoor classrooms, but schools are composed of many different spaces serving different functions: cafeterias, play areas, bus loading, drop off/pick up, staff lounges, gyms, auditoriums, and those classroom spaces. Having at least a few spaces outside could provide vital flexibility for schools navigating the first fall of the pandemic.