Outdoor Spaces - Landscaping

Although every detail of the house is now specified, many of the issues in this section interact with how rooms are laid out, because the interior space should integrate with the outdoor space.  Once you understand the basic ideas of this section, you can finish the house plan, then come back and fill in the landscape details.

38) Positive Outdoor Space/Connection with Indoors
Rather than treating the land around the house as waste space to be filled with an ocean of lawn and shrubs, arrange the house on the lot so that the outdoor space is useable space. While the idea of outdoor living is more popular in warmer climates, almost every climate has a few months a year that allow for outdoor living.  Even when outdoor living isn't possible, the view out the window allows outdoors can be appreciated all year long.

Make the views out the windows attractive, and build porch and patios in the sunny places  to be used when the weather is good.

The outdoor space needs to be integrated with the indoor space so that the two relate to each other.  The feeling of intimacy in the view should correspond to the feeling to intimacy in the room.  Make the views out bedroom rooms peaceful and private, and the ones out of the common areas have a view out on to the street so activity out there can be observed.  If there are sweeping views, make a special spot in the living room to enjoy it, rather than trying to take advantage of it everywhere.  Trying to take advantage of it everywhere make it not special, when it fact it is.  A particular insidious problem is designing a house to take advantage of views while simultaneously violating other design patterns.  Examples abound:  houses with extensive west facing glass that have to hang shades over their view all afternoon during the summer or else their house overheats; houses that get no solar gain because their view isn't to the south. 

A connection to outdoors from the kitchen and living room are especially important to us as that’s where we spend a good part of our day, and although it is certainly nice to have a pleasant view from the home office, it can also be a distraction.  In bedrooms, privacy is important, and most people prefer to wake up to sunlight.  When a house is forced to be close to a street or a neighbors house, special care must be taken to get light without compromising privacy or noise impacts.

39) Outdoor rooms 

Divide the outdoor space into areas, each with it's own function and connect them with paths.

The idea of treating outdoor spaces as rooms that are an extension of the house is more common in warmer climates, but maybe is even more important in colder climates so that the limited good weather can be best enjoyed.

There are three ways outdoor spaces work as an extension of the house: as views to the outside which act as extensions of a room, as intermediary spaces (e.g. a porch) where you are partly inside and partly outside, and as spaces in their own right.

A porch is an old notion that has come back into fashion largely from proponents of new urbanism, because porches are the ideal space to allow for the casual meeting of neighbors. A porch should feel protected, but not enclosed, close enough to the street so as to make interaction still possible, but not so close as to make it required. To be usable, a porch needs to be at least six feet deep: enough for a person to sit and still have room for someone else to walk by.   Eight feet (including railing) is very comfortable.  While the location of the porch is mostly dictated by which way the house faces the street, the availability of sunlight should be considered also.  West and south facing porches are hotter than north and east ones, which could make for a longer season of use, or possibly make the porch too hot in the summer.  Because porches involve big overhangs, south facing porches occupy precious sun gathering space, and will tend to make the rooms behind them very dark unless other sources of daylight can be incorporated.  Porches facing the prevailing winds will tend to be cooler than protected ones.  In all cases, porches tend to be used in the afternoon and evening, so consider those conditions when designing your porch.  Locating porches in corners allows some of the properties of both directions to be used.

Patios and decks are spaces for outdoor living that have a specific relation to the sun, although they can be partly, or even mostly covered.  In cooler climates, they generally want to be in or near the sun, while in hot climates, shade or only morning sun is better.  Unlike porches,  patios demand more privacy.   Some place should be made for hanging out in the sun, whether it be a patio, a deck or whatever. Give it enough room for a a couple of chairs or chaise lounges.  An outdoor space that is "half hidden" is more desirable than one that is totally private or totally exposed, because it fulfills our need to feel protected while allowing us to feel connected to the outside world.

There are an enormous variety of outdoor spaces that can be built, and each aspect of the site lends itself to different kinds of spaces.  Privacy can be created by fences, but also by evergreen shrubbery.  The north side of the house will stay green much longer than the south side, while the area right next to the south wall of the house will be the warmest location.  Odd, curving shaped areas add more interest and an organic feel to the outdoor spaces, and even small curves to walkways and driveways add interest.  A perimeter fence keeps the dog in, but also provides a huge emotional barrier for most people.  Lining your perimeter with varied landscaping provides as much or better privacy, but is more inviting.

Of all patterns, this is the one that almost universally gets ignored.  Creating good outdoor spaces is not easy, and can be quite expensive, but it also turns unused space into useable space.

40) Garden spaces

Once you have you know how you want your outdoor spaces to function and have an idea on how to divided them up, you need to come up with a specific plan to do so.  Here are some things to think about:

Garden wall - There is nothing like a solid barrier to stop noise, and give  privacy.  A garden wall could be as low as two feet or as high as six, but higher walls tend to feel more like prison walls than garden walls unless they can be softened with plants.  When the garden area is elevated from the street a lower wall can provide a high level of privacy, while still allowing the outside to be seen.

Garden seat/serenity garden - a quite corner of the yard  makes an ideal serenity garden: a place that it highly private and quite, where you feel like you've escaped into nature.  Add a view into the serenity garden from a kitchen, bedroom or office and it can be appreciated all year long.

Places on the edge - people generally prefer to sit on the edge of a space with their back against something rather than in the middle, so a sitting area which does this is more likely to be used.  Create sitting areas up against the house, or against walls or shrubbery when possible. Any space that is inviting will eventually become uninviting unless there is a place to sit down. Not all seats have to be on the edge, as other criteria may make a place also desirable, like a perch up off the street, or place that for other reason feels protected enough. People will make use of anything that will function as a seat, including rocks, stairs and garden walls, so allow that to happen: in fact encourage it. Outdoor spaces should have a variety of sitting places, so that each space can be enjoyed.  When the steps to a house are surrounded by  "shoulders" (short, wide walls), they will almost universally be sat on.

As a general rule, people want to feel protected, but still in view of the action.

Build in 3D - its much easier to build a garden when you're standing in it then on paper, because you can actually experience what the spaces feel like.  It's still good to have an idea on paper, but it's also good to be flexible and keep an open mind.  A garden built by actual experience is bound to be better than one built only by a paper design.

Path shape - although it is counter intuitive, the shortest path isn't the best path: rather the best path has  curve to it.  Surprisingly people don't mind walking a bit longer, as long as the curve isn't ridiculous (you can find poor path layouts in many parks and college campuses).  Nor does the path need to be the same width: it can narrow and have bulges.  When the path is to the front door you need to make sure you don't hinder anyone moving furniture in and out, and if there is to be handicap access you need to eliminate stairs also.

A curving bulgy path not only looks better, but it adds a sense of separation between the house and the street, without making the house uninviting.

Trellises - everyone loves trellises.  They make great patio covers against summer sun, and if you plant deciduous vines, you will still get sun in the spring.  They make great walkways, especially as connections between spaces.  A short trellis also makes a great frame for a gate.

Terraces/Rockeries - If you have a slope, the best way to keep it from eroding is to terrace it, or turn it into a rockery.  There are also a variety of plants they hold the ground together very well, although some of them can be invasive.  Terraces/Rockeries and plantings together will reliably stop erosion while still given a lot of options for visual interest.   Terraces can turn a slope into more useful space by making it walkable.

Car Connection - make sure there is path from the car parking to the front door, or else the front door won't get used.

North face - people don't generally like to hang out in the shade, so either (1) make it something nice for the adjoining building to look at (2) make it a garden walk to pass thru (3) step the building down so that it minimizes the shadow area.

41) Perennials

While turf grass is easy to maintain with chemicals and machines, it often results in a large surface area that is neither appreciated nor used.  In cases where there are children or dogs, and it will get used, then it can be a good choice, and it is possible to maintain with neither chemicals or machines, but with a bit more effort. For everyone else, if instead you plant you yard in perennials, bushes and trees, you not only get a more interesting landscape, but you've also created habitat for birds, bees and butterflies.

Find the most climate adapted plants you can, and plant them in the spot in your yard they need to be.  Larger perennials and trees can be used to shape the landscape as well as rocks, walls and fences.  Native plants tend to be the most adapted to the climate, but since cities change the microclimate significantly (for example, by changing from shady forest to sunnier area), native plants don't always work.