The balcony that is only good before nine
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
Morning coffee
Wind is3.1 mph over— 10.9 mph against at most 7.8 mph
Cold air moving early is what sends people back inside.
Confidence low (35%). Treat this as a starting hypothesis, not an answer.
Not offered, and why
Move the table 6.6 ft north-west does not move this in any way worth the effort.
Slide the seating about 6.6 feet toward the north-west and change nothing else.
+0 hours of usable time on this day. Opens 4:00 AM to 12:00 PM.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
Sit under The balcony above does not move this in any way worth the effort.
Move the seating under The balcony above, which is already standing and already casting something. Costs nothing and takes an afternoon of trying it.
+0 hours of usable time on this day. Opens 4:00 AM to 12:00 PM.
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.
+0 hours of usable time on this day. Opens 4:00 AM to 12:00 PM.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
A 9.8 ft umbrella does not move this in any way worth the effort.
A 9.8 feet canopy at about 7.5 feet, tilted toward the low sun.
+0 hours of usable time on this day. Opens 4:00 AM to 12:00 PM.
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.
Add 1.5 ft of trellis to Balcony parapet does not move this in any way worth the effort.
An open trellis panel on top of Balcony parapet, taking it from 3.4 feet to 4.9 feet. Open trellis blocks a sightline at an angle while letting light and air through, which a solid board does not.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
A short return panel on the west corner does not move this in any way worth the effort.
A panel about 6.2 feet high and 5.2 feet long, set square across the corner the wind comes round. Air speeds up as it turns a hard edge, so the metre and a half at the corner is worth more than five along the fence.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
A line of tall planters upwind does not move this in any way worth the effort.
A run of planters about 4.9 feet to the west, planted to roughly 5.2 feet. It is porous, it is movable, and it needs no footings — which is the whole point on a balcony.
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 5.9 ft porous windbreak upwind does not move this in any way worth the effort.
A slatted break about 5.9 feet high and 16.4 feet wide, set 14.8 feet west of the seat. Roughly forty per cent open shelters further than solid.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
A drawable outdoor curtain does not move this in any way worth the effort.
A heavy outdoor curtain on a track, drawn across the west side when it is wanted and open the rest of the time.
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 8.2 ft awning does not move this in any way worth the effort.
A folding-arm awning projecting 8.2 feet from the house wall at about 8.5 feet, retracted out of season.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
A deciduous tree 16.4 ft south-east of the seat does not move this in any way worth the effort.
A medium deciduous tree planted 16.4 feet to the south-east, grown to about 26 feet, with a crown roughly 19.7 feet across.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
A solid roof over the seating does not move this in any way worth the effort.
A roof about 9.2 feet above the seating. Against a tall building or a hard boundary, air spills over the top and comes down on the far side, and a seat that is nowhere near the wind still sits in it. Closing the top stops that in a way no amount of fence does.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
Open up Balcony parapet to about half does not move this in any way worth the effort.
Replace the boards of Balcony parapet with a slatted or louvred panel roughly half open. Solid barriers throw air over the top and drop it in a turbulent eddy a few metres downwind; a porous one bleeds air through and lengthens the sheltered zone to several times its own height.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
Raise the seating 1.5 ft does not move this in any way worth the effort.
A raised platform lifting the seat about 1.5 feet. It clears low boundaries, reaches faster air, and it works both ways: what you can see over, you can be seen over.
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 south-west.
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 south-west 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 Balcony floor 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 building, 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 Balcony floor 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 Balcony floor 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.