​“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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