Room for DramaOutside, Actually.

Chicago (demonstration)

The pots on the roof that need watering twice a day

DemonstrationEdit the plan

When in a pot is open for growing things

Each month read on its 15th · 2026
Something growing here, through the year. In a pot cannot be read for growing things in any month yet. 0 months open, 0 shut, 12 unanswered.JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec0months open
  • Works
  • Tight
  • No
  • Unanswered

Rings run from 6 am at the centre to 8 pm at the edge.

In a pot cannot be read for growing things in any month yet.

  • All year: cannot be answered, because usable light has not been recorded here.
The same year as a table
MonthOpenUsable hoursWhat decides it
January——Usable light closes it
February——Usable light closes it
March——Usable light closes it
April——Usable light closes it
May——Usable light closes it
June——Usable light closes it
July——Usable light closes it
August——Usable light closes it
September——Usable light closes it
October——Usable light closes it
November——Usable light closes it
December——Usable light closes it
Parapet3.6 ftStair housing8.5 ftIn a potN16 ft
BuildingNot yoursCanopyShadow nowCan see inProposed

Reading at

8:34 PM·September
September 14 · In a pot
The same day as a table
The same day hour by hour, in text.
HourSunVerdictConfidenceSun position
12:00 AMdark——
3:00 AMdark——
6:00 AMdark——
8:00 AMin sun——9° up, bearing 91°
9:00 AMin sun——22° up, bearing 99°
10:00 AMin sun——34° up, bearing 109°
11:00 AMin sun——46° up, bearing 121°
12:00 PMin sun——56° up, bearing 139°
1:00 PMin sun——62° up, bearing 166°
2:00 PMin sun——62° up, bearing 198°
3:00 PMin sun——55° up, bearing 224°
4:00 PMin sun——45° up, bearing 241°
5:00 PMin sun——33° up, bearing 252°
6:00 PMin sun——20° up, bearing 262°
7:00 PMin sun——7° up, bearing 269°
9:00 PMdark——

Not full sun or shade. How much usable light actually arrives across a day, and whether the spot ever dries.

Something growing here

In a pot works for growing things across a day like this.

  • Usable light is inside what this use needs: 32.2 mol/m2/day against at least 6 mol/m2/day.
  • Hours of direct sun is inside what this use needs: 12.3h against at least 1.5h.
  • How long it stays wet is inside what this use needs: 7.1h against at most 10h.

Confidence medium (60%). Enough to point in a direction, not enough to buy against.

What this answer was built from
  • Use
    Something growing here
  • Place
    In a pot
  • Weather
    Hot and humid, long cooling season (scenario shape) (from a published source)
  • Method
    A whole day in September, traced against the scene rather than read at one hour
    • Try a changeMake a document

    How well this place is described

    Mapped
    1. Quick
    2. Mapped
    3. Annotated
    4. Measured

    Shade, sky view and daily light are computed from real geometry rather than assumed. This is the rung at which the product starts telling you things you did not already know.

    It cannot answer who can see in, and it cannot tell you whether the heights it is using are the real ones.

    To reach Annotated

    • Photographs of the actual place: None annotated. A photograph is how a drawn height gets checked against a real one.
    • Photographs that know where they were taken from: No photograph has a position and a bearing, so what is marked on them cannot become a measurement.
    • Who can see in: Nobody marked. Privacy is a question about who sees in from where, and the product will not invent one.

    What that buys: The privacy question, and a check on the geometry. Most inferred heights are wrong by enough to matter, and a photograph settles it in a minute.

    Everything that was checked
    • Quick A place on the earth: Chicago (demonstration), with a time zone, which is what makes an hour an hour.
    • Quick Somewhere to read: 1 spot marked. A reading is a height at a place, and moving it moves the answer.
    • Mapped The things in the way: 2 objects drawn. The house counts, and so does the neighbour's.
    • Mapped What is underfoot: 1 of 1 readings sit on a mapped surface.
    • Mapped Where the property ends: Drawn, so the product can tell you when the cheapest fix stands on someone else's land.
    • Annotated Photographs of the actual place: None annotated. A photograph is how a drawn height gets checked against a real one.
    • Annotated Photographs that know where they were taken from: No photograph has a position and a bearing, so what is marked on them cannot become a measurement.
    • Annotated Who can see in: Nobody marked. Privacy is a question about who sees in from where, and the product will not invent one.
    • Measured Heights off a tape: 1 of 2 objects are measured. The remaining 1 are this product's own inference, so no figure here is a survey figure yet.
    • Measured Something checked against the day: Nothing has been checked against a real afternoon. The model is unopposed, which is not the same as being right.

    What to measure next

    Ranked by how far the answer moves, not by a checklist
    1. 1What the paving actually isOne photoFlips the answerHow long it stays wet ±53

      Photograph the paving next to something white. How dark it is decides both how hot it gets underfoot and how much light it throws back up at a seated person.

      Across the plausible range this flips the answer between works and no. Worth going outside for.

      Mark it on the planAdd photo evidence

      reflectance 0.1 → works 100 · reflectance 0.25 → works 100 · reflectance 0.45 → no 42

      Currently assuming: reflectance 0.12, assumed. Tested across 0.1 to 0.45.

    2. 2Who can actually see inSit in the chair

      Sit where you actually sit and look around. Mark the one window or path you can see a person from. Until one exists, privacy is a question we are not answering rather than one that is fine.

      This is not a refinement. Nothing can answer this question until somebody marks it.

      Mark it on the plan

      Currently assuming: nobody is overlooking this. Tested across one confirmed observer changes the whole privacy answer.

    3. 3What you are looking atSit in the chair

      Mark the direction of the view worth keeping. Without it, every screening recommendation is optimising against nothing.

      This is not a refinement. Nothing can answer this question until somebody marks it.

      Mark it on the plan

      Currently assuming: no view is being protected. Tested across one corridor changes what screening is worth doing.

    What the place is doing at 8:34pm in September

    Hot and humid, long cooling season (scenario shape).

    What it feels like

    warm

    82.6°F

    Felt temperature · 60 on the reporting scale

    It feels about 3 degrees warmer than the air here, near 83°F, which is warm.

    How this was worked out
  • Air
    79.7°F from Hot and humid, long cooling season (scenario shape), scenario (from a published source)
  • Radiant
    71.4°F mean radiant temperature
  • Method
    Six-directional radiation integration, then ASHRAE operative temperature (from a published source)

    • Direct sun

    after dark

    0 W/m²

    Beam reaching this point · 0 on the reporting scale

    The sun is down.

    How this was worked out
  • Sun
    below the horizon
  • Traced
    0% of the beam reaches this point

    • Glare

    none

    0

    out of 100

    Nothing bright is in the line of sight at this hour.

    How this was worked out
  • Facing
    180deg (assumed, not measured)
  • Assumed
    Which way the seat faces has not been set, so glare is estimated from the open direction. (assumed, not measured)

    • Privacy exposure

    Unanswered

    No observer has been placed yet. Privacy is a question about who can see in from where, and until one is marked there is nothing to answer.

    Wind

    breezy

    5.4 mph

    Wind at the seat · 27 on the reporting scale

    Wind here is breezy.

    How this was worked out
  • Reference
    5.5 mph at 10 m from Hot and humid, long cooling season (scenario shape), scenario (from a published source)
  • At seat height
    5.4 mph before shelter
  • Shelter
    0% removed by what stands upwind

    • View

    Unanswered

    No view worth keeping has been marked, so there is nothing to weigh a screen against yet.

    Surface heat

    comfortable

    79.7°F

    Surface temperature · 23 on the reporting scale

    The surface is running about 80°F.

    How this was worked out
  • Surface
    Roof membrane
  • Method
    Absorbed shortwave against air temperature, flattened by air movement (from a published source)

    • Wetness

    dries-fast

    1 x

    Drying time against the open · 10 on the reporting scale

    Sun and air movement here are enough to dry the surface at an ordinary rate.

    How this was worked out
  • Drying rate
    0.000 in/hour here
  • Method
    Penman combination equation on the radiation and air actually reaching this spot (from a published source)

    • Light after dark

    Unanswered

    No exterior or window light has been placed yet, so what changes after dark is unanswered.

    Ask something else about this place

    Who can see me?

    The sightline, the smallest screen that closes it, and what it costs you in view.

    What grows here?

    Usable light across a day, not the label on the tag.

    I already own this. Where should it go?

    The same reasoning backwards: every spot you have marked, ranked for one plant.

    What survives here?

    What this exposure does to the things you leave out.

    Dinner outside tonight?

    The forecast, read against this specific seat.

    What changes through the year?

    The same layout in May, August and October.

    What changes after dark?

    Light, glare and who can see in once the sun has gone.

    Everything on the plan, in text
    ThingReadingNote
    Parapet3.6 ft100 per cent solid.
    Stair housing8.5 ft100 per cent solid.