Room for DramaOutside, Actually.

Chicago (demonstration)

The front porch nobody sits on

DemonstrationEdit the plan

When the porch chair is open for reading for an hour

Each month read on its 15th · 2026
Read for an hour, through the year. The porch chair does not open for reading for an hour in any month of the year, at the hours this use happens. 0 months open, 12 shut, 0 unanswered.JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec0months open
  • Works
  • Tight
  • No
  • Unanswered

Rings run from 7 am at the centre to 9 pm at the edge.

The porch chair does not open for reading for an hour in any month of the year, at the hours this use happens.

  • All year: shut for reading for an hour. What it feels like stops it in 6 of those months and privacy exposure in most of the rest.

Nothing here opens for reading for an hour at any point in the year. What it feels like shuts 6 months and privacy exposure shuts most of the others, so this is two problems rather than one — and a change that fixes either on its own still leaves a shut garden.

The same year as a table
MonthOpenUsable hoursWhat decides it
Januaryshut—What it feels like stops it
Februaryshut—What it feels like stops it
Marchshut—What it feels like stops it
Aprilshut—What it feels like stops it
Mayshut—Privacy exposure stops it
Juneshut—Privacy exposure stops it
Julyshut—Privacy exposure stops it
Augustshut—Privacy exposure stops it
Septembershut—Privacy exposure stops it
Octobershut—Privacy exposure stops it
Novembershut—What it feels like stops it
Decembershut—What it feels like stops it
The streetThe house24.6 ftPorch roof10.5 ftPorch rail3.1 ftStreet tree26.2 ftPeople on the sidewalkThe house oppositeThe porch chairN16 ft
BuildingNot yoursCanopyShadow nowCan see inProposed

Reading at

8:35 PM·September
September 14 · The porch chair

The evidence behind this whole day is thin, so nothing on the strip is marked out as worse than the rest. The shape of the day is still the model’s best reading; the confidence in it is low, and it stays low until something it needs is measured.

The porch chair does not open for reading for an hour on this day, and privacy exposure is the reason.

Nothing in September clears what reading for an hour needs here.

The same day as a table
The same day hour by hour, in text.
HourSunVerdictConfidenceSun position
12:00 AMdarkNoa starting hypothesis
3:00 AMdarkNoa starting hypothesis
6:00 AMdarkNoa starting hypothesis
7:00 AMin sunNoa starting hypothesis5° up, bearing 90°
8:00 AMin sunNoa starting hypothesis16° up, bearing 100°
9:00 AMshaded by Porch roofNoa starting hypothesis27° up, bearing 111°
10:00 AMshaded by Porch roofNoa starting hypothesis36° up, bearing 125°
11:00 AMshaded by Porch roofNoa starting hypothesis45° up, bearing 141°
12:00 PMshaded by Porch roofNoa starting hypothesis50° up, bearing 162°
1:00 PMshaded by Porch roofNoa starting hypothesis51° up, bearing 186°
2:00 PMshaded by Porch roofNoa starting hypothesis48° up, bearing 208°
3:00 PMshaded by Porch roofNoa starting hypothesis41° up, bearing 227°
4:00 PMshaded by Porch roofNoa starting hypothesis32° up, bearing 242°
5:00 PMshaded by Porch roofNoa starting hypothesis22° up, bearing 254°
6:00 PMshaded by Porch roofNoa starting hypothesis11° up, bearing 265°
7:00 PMin sunNoa starting hypothesis0° up, bearing 275°
9:00 PMdarkNoa starting hypothesis

Even light, no glare on the page, enough quiet to forget the time.

Read for an hour

The porch chair does not work for reading for an hour right now, and privacy exposure is why.

  • Privacy exposure is38 over— 83 / 100 against at most 45

    Settling in takes not feeling observed.

  • What it feels like is4.4°F under— 56.4°F against at least 60.8°F

    An hour is long enough for a few degrees to matter.

Still unanswered:Noise

Confidence low (45%). Treat this as a starting hypothesis, not an answer.

What this answer was built from
  • Use
    Read for an hour
  • Place
    The porch chair
  • Weather
    Humid continental, hot summers, real winters (scenario shape), scenario (from a published source)
  • Method
    Traced geometry and radiation at this hour, measured against what this use needs
    • 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.

    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: 4 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: 2 observers marked.
    • Measured Heights off a tape: 2 of 4 objects are measured. The remaining 2 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

    Nothing you could measure would change this answer. What is limiting this place is real, not uncertain.

    What the place is doing at 8:35pm in September

    Humid continental, hot summers, real winters (scenario shape).

    What it feels like

    cool

    56.4°F

    Felt temperature · 24 on the reporting scale

    It feels about 9 degrees cooler than the air, near 56°F.

    What is doing it

    • How much sky is overhead

      −6.6°

    • Air movement

      +5.8°
    How this was worked out
  • Air
    65.6°F from Humid continental, hot summers, real winters (scenario shape), scenario (from a published source)
  • Radiant
    29.4°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

    • Privacy exposure

    exposed

    83

    out of 100

    People on the sidewalk has a clear line to this seat.

    What is doing it

    • People on the sidewalk

      +75

    • The house opposite

      +42
    How this was worked out
  • Observers
    2 marked
  • Method
    Eye-to-eye rays, then scaled by how much brighter the seat is than the observer's own surroundings

    • Wind

    light

    2.9 mph

    Wind at the seat · 14 on the reporting scale

    Wind here is light.

    How this was worked out
  • Reference
    6.1 mph at 10 m from Humid continental, hot summers, real winters (scenario shape), scenario (from a published source)
  • At seat height
    2.9 mph before shelter
  • Shelter
    0% removed by what stands upwind

    • View

    open

    96

    out of 100

    The view from this seat is essentially intact.

    What is doing it

    • The street

      +96
    How this was worked out
  • Corridors
    The street
  • Method
    Rays sampled across each corridor's angular window

    • Surface heat

    comfortable

    65.6°F

    Surface temperature · 7 on the reporting scale

    The surface is running about 66°F.

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

    • Wetness

    dries-fast

    1 x

    Drying time against the open · 0 on the reporting scale

    Overhead cover keeps most of the rain off in the first place.

    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

    lit-up

    13.6 lux

    Light on the seat · 83 on the reporting scale

    At this hour the seat is much brighter than the ground the observer is standing on, which is what makes a person read clearly from outside.

    What is doing it

    • Porch light

      +14
    How this was worked out
  • Fixtures
    1 placed
  • On the seat
    13.6 lux
  • Spill
    22% of output leaves sideways or upward

    • 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
    The house24.6 ft100 per cent solid.
    Porch roof10.5 ft100 per cent solid.
    Porch rail3.1 ft50 per cent solid.
    Street tree26.2 ft70 per cent solid, and seasonal.
    People on the sidewalkopen25.4 ft away, eye height 5.2 ft, -1 degrees above the seat.
    The house oppositeopen59.4 ft away, eye height 13.8 ft, 8 degrees above the seat.