Room for DramaOutside, Actually.

Chicago (demonstration)

The deck that eats furniture

DemonstrationEdit the plan

When the outdoor sofa is open for morning coffee

Each month read on its 15th · 2026
Morning coffee, through the year. The outdoor sofa is open for morning coffee 6:00 AM to 7:00 AM, March to October. It opens at different hours November to February. 12 months open, 0 shut, 0 unanswered.JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec12months open
  • Works
  • Tight
  • No
  • Unanswered

Rings run from 4 am at the centre to noon at the edge.

The outdoor sofa is open for morning coffee 6:00 AM to 7:00 AM, March to October. It opens at different hours November to February.

  • November to February: open 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM. It carries on past 10:00 AM, which is later than most people do this.
  • March to October: open 6:00 AM to 7:00 AM. What it feels like is what closes it.

What it feels like sets the shape of the year here — it is what ends the day in 7 months of twelve. Change that one thing and the card is rewritten.

The same year as a table
MonthOpenUsable hoursWhat decides it
January9:00 AM–10:00 AM1 hStill usable afterwards
February8:00 AM–10:00 AM2 hStill usable afterwards
March6:00 AM–10:00 AM4 hStill usable afterwards
April6:00 AM–9:00 AM3 hWhat it feels like closes it
May6:00 AM–8:00 AM2 hWhat it feels like closes it
June6:00 AM–7:00 AM1 hWhat it feels like closes it
July6:00 AM–7:00 AM1 hWhat it feels like closes it
August6:00 AM–7:00 AM1 hWhat it feels like closes it
September6:00 AM–8:00 AM2 hWhat it feels like closes it
October6:00 AM–9:00 AM3 hWhat it feels like closes it
November8:00 AM–10:00 AM2 hStill usable afterwards
December8:00 AM–10:00 AM2 hStill usable afterwards
The house19.7 ftLive oak32.8 ftThe outdoor sofaWhere the dog liesN16 ft
BuildingNot yoursCanopyShadow nowCan see inProposed

Reading at

8:35 PM·September
September 14 · The outdoor sofa

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 outdoor sofa is open for morning coffee 12:00 AM to 8:30 AM.

About 8.5 hours in September, and what it feels like is what closes it.

The same day as a table
The same day hour by hour, in text.
HourSunVerdictConfidenceSun position
12:00 AMdarkWorksa starting hypothesis
3:00 AMdarkWorksa starting hypothesis
6:00 AMdarkWorksa starting hypothesis
8:00 AMin sunWorksa starting hypothesis9° up, bearing 91°
9:00 AMin sunNoa starting hypothesis22° up, bearing 99°
10:00 AMin sunNoa starting hypothesis34° up, bearing 109°
11:00 AMin sunNoa starting hypothesis46° up, bearing 121°
12:00 PMin sunNoa starting hypothesis56° up, bearing 139°
1:00 PMin sunNoa starting hypothesis62° up, bearing 166°
2:00 PMin sunNoa starting hypothesis62° up, bearing 198°
3:00 PMin sunNoa starting hypothesis55° up, bearing 224°
4:00 PMshaded by Live oakNoa starting hypothesis45° up, bearing 241°
5:00 PMshaded by Live oakNoa starting hypothesis33° up, bearing 252°
6:00 PMshaded by Live oakNoa starting hypothesis20° up, bearing 262°
7:00 PMin sunTighta starting hypothesis7° up, bearing 269°
9:00 PMdarkWorksa starting hypothesis

Twenty minutes, first light, nobody looking.

Morning coffee

The outdoor sofa works for morning coffee at this hour.

  • What it feels like is inside what this use needs: 78.5°F against 53.6°F to 80.6°F.
  • Wind is inside what this use needs: 0.7 mph against at most 7.8 mph.
  • Wetness is inside what this use needs: 5 / 100 against at most 40.
Still unanswered:Privacy exposure

Confidence low (35%). Treat this as a starting hypothesis, not an answer.

What this answer was built from
  • Use
    Morning coffee
  • Place
    The outdoor sofa
  • Weather
    Hot and humid, long cooling season (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.
    • 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: 2 spots 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: 2 of 2 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: 0 of 2 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

    Ranked by how far the answer moves, not by a checklist
    1. 1Who 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.

    2. 2What 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 8:35pm in September

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

    What it feels like

    comfortable

    78.5°F

    Felt temperature · 55 on the reporting scale

    It feels about 1 degrees cooler than the air, near 78°F.

    What is doing it

    • How much sky is overhead

      −4.2°
    How this was worked out
  • Air
    79.7°F from Hot and humid, long cooling season (scenario shape), scenario (from a published source)
  • Radiant
    64.4°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

    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

    still

    0.7 mph

    Wind at the seat · 3 on the reporting scale

    Wind here is still.

    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
    0.7 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
    Composite deck
  • Method
    Absorbed shortwave against air temperature, flattened by air movement (from a published source)

    • Wetness

    dries-fast

    1 x

    Drying time against the open · 5 on the reporting scale

    Still air here; moving air does a surprising amount of the drying.

    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
    The house19.7 ft100 per cent solid.
    Live oak32.8 ft80 per cent solid.