Room for DramaOutside, Actually.

Los Angeles (demonstration)

The hedge that browns on one side every winter

DemonstrationEdit the plan

When the seaward face is open for leaving things out

Each month read on its 15th · 2026
Something left out here, through the year. The seaward face cannot be read for leaving things out in any month yet. 0 months open, 0 shut, 12 unanswered.JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec0months open
  • Works
  • Tight
  • No
  • Unanswered

Rings run from midnight at the centre to 11 pm at the edge.

The seaward face cannot be read for leaving things out in any month yet.

  • All year: cannot be answered, because ultraviolet dose has not been recorded here.
The same year as a table
MonthOpenUsable hoursWhat decides it
January——Ultraviolet dose closes it
February——Ultraviolet dose closes it
March——Ultraviolet dose closes it
April——Ultraviolet dose closes it
May——Ultraviolet dose closes it
June——Ultraviolet dose closes it
July——Ultraviolet dose closes it
August——Ultraviolet dose closes it
September——Ultraviolet dose closes it
October——Ultraviolet dose closes it
November——Ultraviolet dose closes it
December——Ultraviolet dose closes it
The waterThe hedge6.9 ftThe house19.7 ftThe seaward face8° upN16 ft
BuildingNot yoursCanopyShadow nowCan see inProposed

Reading at

6:33 PM·September
September 14 · The seaward face
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——
7:00 AMshaded by The hedge——1° up, bearing 87°
8:00 AMin sun——13° up, bearing 96°
9:00 AMin sun——24° up, bearing 106°
10:00 AMin sun——35° up, bearing 118°
11:00 AMin sun——45° up, bearing 133°
12:00 PMin sun——52° up, bearing 153°
1:00 PMin sun——55° up, bearing 178°
2:00 PMin sun——53° up, bearing 203°
3:00 PMin sun——47° up, bearing 224°
4:00 PMin sun——37° up, bearing 240°
5:00 PMin sun——26° up, bearing 252°
6:00 PMin sun——15° up, bearing 262°
7:00 PMin sun——3° up, bearing 272°
9:00 PMdark——

Furniture, cushions, a rug, a finish. What this place does to it over a year.

Something left out here

The seaward face works for leaving things out across the year.

  • Ultraviolet dose is0.3 MJ/m2/day over— 1.4 MJ/m2/day against at most 1.1 MJ/m2/day

    Ultraviolet dose is cumulative and does not care whether anyone is sitting there.

  • How long it stays wet is1.6h over— 13.6h against at most 12h

    Repeated wetting with slow drying is what actually destroys outdoor things, far more than rainfall totals.

Confidence low (43%). Treat this as a starting hypothesis, not an answer.

What this answer was built from
  • Use
    Something left out here
  • Place
    The seaward face
  • Weather
    Coastal Mediterranean, dry summers, salt air (scenario shape) (from a published source)
  • Method
    Twelve representative days across the year, read at the month that punishes hardest
    • 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: Los Angeles (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. 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.

    What the place is doing at 6:33pm in September

    Coastal Mediterranean, dry summers, salt air (scenario shape).

    What it feels like

    comfortable

    74.8°F

    Felt temperature · 49 on the reporting scale

    It feels about 2 degrees warmer than the air here, near 75°F, which is comfortable.

    What is doing it

    • Air movement

      −3.3°

    • Direct sun on the seat

      +3.0°

    • How much sky is overhead

      −0.9°
    How this was worked out
  • Air
    72.5°F from Coastal Mediterranean, dry summers, salt air (scenario shape), scenario (from a published source)
  • Radiant
    77.0°F mean radiant temperature
  • Method
    Six-directional radiation integration, then ASHRAE operative temperature (from a published source)

    • Direct sun

    in sun

    19.7 W/m²

    Beam reaching this point · 100 on the reporting scale

    Direct sun is on this spot right now.

    How this was worked out
  • Sun
    8deg up, bearing 268deg
  • Traced
    100% of the beam reaches this point

    • Glare

    difficult

    41

    out of 100

    The sun is 26 degrees off the line of sight and low enough to stay in peripheral vision.

    How this was worked out
  • Facing
    290deg
  • Sun off the line of sight
    26deg

    • 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

    light

    4 mph

    Wind at the seat · 20 on the reporting scale

    Wind here is light.

    How this was worked out
  • Reference
    10.3 mph at 10 m from Coastal Mediterranean, dry summers, salt air (scenario shape), scenario (from a published source)
  • At seat height
    4.0 mph before shelter
  • Shelter
    0% removed by what stands upwind

    • View

    partly kept

    61

    out of 100

    About 39% of the view worth keeping is already gone from this seat.

    What is doing it

    • The water

      +61
    How this was worked out
  • Corridors
    The water
  • Method
    Rays sampled across each corridor's angular window

    • Surface heat

    comfortable

    75.8°F

    Surface temperature · 19 on the reporting scale

    The surface is running about 76°F.

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

    • Wetness

    dries-fast

    1 x

    Drying time against the open · 16 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
    0.001 in/hour here
  • Method
    Penman combination equation on the radiation and air actually reaching this spot (from a published source)

    • Light after dark

    daylight

    0

    out of 100

    Artificial light is not doing anything at this hour.

    How this was worked out
  • Sun
    still up

    • 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 hedge6.9 ft72 per cent solid, and seasonal.
    The house19.7 ft100 per cent solid.