The seat beside the driveway
Every change below is put into the plan and the whole model is run again. That is why a pergola's winter cost shows up here without anybody having written it down, and why the cheapest thing that works is allowed to win.
Reading at
Read for an hour
What it feels like is28.9°F over— 107.7°F against at most 78.8°F
An hour is long enough for a few degrees to matter.
Glare is28 over— 46 / 100 against at most 18
Glare on a page is the whole problem; heat is secondary.
Confidence low (34%). Treat this as a starting hypothesis, not an answer.
Face the seating east fixes glare.
Ranked by what solves the actual limit with the least effort, not by the biggest number.
Not offered, and why
A 13.8 ft umbrella fixes glare.
A 13.8 feet canopy at about 7.5 feet, tilted toward the low sun.
+1 hours of usable time on this day. Opens 7:00 AM to 11:00 AM.
It takes the summer sun and leaves most of the winter sun, which is the behaviour worth paying for.
A 11.5 ft awning fixes glare.
A folding-arm awning projecting 11.5 feet from the house wall at about 8.5 feet, retracted out of season.
+0 hours of usable time on this day. Opens 7:00 AM to 10:00 AM.
It takes the summer sun and leaves most of the winter sun, which is the behaviour worth paying for.
Face the seating east fixes glare.
Turn the chairs to look east, which puts the low sun behind the shoulder instead of across the table.
+1 hours of usable time on this day. Opens 7:00 AM to 10:00 AM.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
A drawable outdoor curtain fixes glare.
A heavy outdoor curtain on a track, drawn across the west side when it is wanted and open the rest of the time.
+1 hours of usable time on this day. Opens 7:00 AM to 10:00 AM.
At this hour it removes about 88 per cent of the summer beam and about 88 per cent of the winter beam. The winter half is the part people regret.
A 6.9 ft panel to the west fixes glare.
A solid panel about 6.9 feet high and 9.8 feet wide, standing 7.2 feet to the west. Low sun arrives almost horizontally, and only something vertical stops it.
Summer beam up about 0 per cent, winter beam down about 92 per cent at this hour.
A deciduous tree 16.4 ft west of the seat fixes glare.
A medium deciduous tree planted 16.4 feet to the west, grown to about 26 feet, with a crown roughly 19.7 feet across.
It takes the summer sun and leaves most of the winter sun, which is the behaviour worth paying for.
A second seat 19.7 ft south does not move this in any way worth the effort.
Put two chairs 19.7 feet to the south and leave the main table where it is. The point is not to fix this spot but to stop needing it at the hour it does not work.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
Sit under Deep eave does not move this in any way worth the effort.
Move the seating under Deep eave, which is already standing and already casting something. Costs nothing and takes an afternoon of trying it.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
Two 8.2 ft parasols instead of one does not move this in any way worth the effort.
Two parasols about 8.2 feet across, set 7.2 feet apart along the table. Between them they cover a rectangle, which is the shape a table actually is.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
Two low shielded lights instead of one high one does not move this in any way worth the effort.
Add a pair of shielded 200 lumen fixtures at knee height near the seating, so the useful light is where people are rather than thrown across the garden.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
A shade sail over the seating does not move this in any way worth the effort.
A sail about 16.4 feet by 13.1 feet, set at about 9.2 feet and angled to shed water.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
A deciduous climber on tensioned wires does not move this in any way worth the effort.
Wires strung about 8.5 feet above the seating with a vigorous deciduous climber trained across them. In leaf it shades like a light pergola; bare, it gives back most of the winter sun a solid roof would have kept.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
A pergola with open slats does not move this in any way worth the effort.
A pergola about 13.1 feet square at 8.5 feet with open slats, slats running roughly north.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
An adjustable louvred roof does not move this in any way worth the effort.
A louvred roof about 13.1 feet square at 8.5 feet, blades running north and closable.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
A paler paving does not move this in any way worth the effort.
Replace Shaded walk with a paler paving of similar mass. The surface itself runs cooler underfoot; the trade is that more light bounces back up at a seated person.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
A solid canopy over the seating does not move this in any way worth the effort.
A solid roof about 11.2 feet above the seating, 13.1 feet by 11.5 feet, guttered on the low edge. Unlike fabric it works in rain, and unlike a pergola it takes the winter light too.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
Horizontal fins above the opening does not move this in any way worth the effort.
A run of fixed horizontal fins projecting about 2.3 feet from The house, set above head height. Geometry does the work: high summer sun is cut, low winter sun passes under, and the view out is barely touched.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
A ventilated timber deck instead does not move this in any way worth the effort.
Replace Shaded walk with a ventilated timber deck. Heavy paving charges all afternoon and radiates back until well after dark, which is why an evening terrace can feel hotter than the air. A light deck over an air gap is done within the hour.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
Take up the paving and plant it does not move this in any way worth the effort.
Lift Shaded walk and plant it. Nothing else on this list moves surface temperature as far: paving in full sun sits twenty degrees or more above the air, while planted ground transpires and typically sits at or below it. It is also the only change here that gets better rather than worse over ten years.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.