Covered Outdoor Space And Shade
An uncovered courtyard is unusable for most of an Australian summer. Covered outdoor space is the difference between private open space that gets used and space that is looked at.
Why does covered outdoor space matter in supported accommodation?
Because uncovered space is unusable in heat, rain and high UV, which removes it from a resident's daily routine. A covered area extends the usable part of the dwelling, provides a shaded route to the car, and gives support workers a place to work outside the living area.
Private open space is a planning requirement and a resident requirement, and the two are frequently satisfied differently.
A courtyard built to the minimum area with no shade is compliant and barely used. The useful version is covered.
What a covered area actually provides
**Usable hours.** Shade turns a space that is too hot from mid morning into one that works all day.
**A sheltered route** between the dwelling and a vehicle, which matters most for a resident who transfers slowly or uses a hoist.
**Somewhere to be outside the living room,** which in a shared dwelling is the difference between a resident having a choice and not having one.
**Protection for the building,** because a covered threshold keeps weather off the door and reduces the water load on the waterproofing at the worst detail in the building.
The space it sits within is the subject of [private open space in accessible housing](/blog/private-open-space-in-accessible-housing).
Orientation decides the design
A north facing area needs shade that blocks high summer sun and admits low winter sun, which is a roof with the right depth and pitch or an adjustable system.
West facing is the difficult one. Late afternoon sun arrives low and direct, and a roof does almost nothing about it. The answer there is vertical: a screen, a blade wall, or planting.
Getting that wrong produces either a space nobody uses in February or a space that is cold and dark in July. The same orientation logic drives [energy and thermal performance in modular](/blog/energy-and-thermal-performance-in-modular).
The threshold is where it is won or lost
A covered deck with a step at the door is not accessible, and a level threshold needs the water handled.
Which is the detail in [decks, balustrades and level thresholds](/blog/decks-balustrades-and-level-thresholds): a level entry with a drainage grate, a fall away from the building, and a membrane that is continuous under the whole arrangement.
Covered space makes that detail easier rather than harder, because most of the water never reaches the door.
Structure and attachment
A verandah or pergola attached to a module transfers load into the frame, including wind uplift, which on a light roof is the governing case rather than gravity.
So the attachment points are designed with the module rather than added to it. The steel frame can take the load where it was told about in advance, which is part of why [the steel frame and why it is over-engineered](/blog/the-steel-frame-and-why-it-is-over-engineered) matters in practice.
A freestanding structure avoids the attachment entirely and needs its own footings, which puts it in the site works.
Factory or site
**Factory built** where the covered area sits within the module footprint or folds out from it. Finished under cover, to factory tolerances, with the waterproofing continuous.
**Site built** where it spans beyond the modules or wraps the building. Which means it is programmed into the site works with the groundworks and the external areas, per [landscaping and external works](/blog/landscaping-and-external-works).
Either way the decision is made in design, because a site built verandah needs footings in the groundworks package and a factory built one needs the module designed around it.
Materials that survive
Colorbond or similar for the roof, with insulation where the space sits against a window and radiant heat would otherwise come through it.
Polycarbonate where light is needed, accepting a shorter life and a noisier roof in rain.
Timber only where the maintenance regime supports it. On a supported accommodation site with a long hold period, a low maintenance material is the right answer, which is the argument in [external cladding selection and durability](/blog/external-cladding-selection-and-durability).
Bushfire and wind
In a bushfire prone area a covered outdoor space is an attachment with ember exposure, which changes the materials, the gaps and the detailing.
In a high wind region the uplift on a light roof governs the whole structure. Both are resolved at design rather than at installation, and both sit with [bushfire and flood resilience](/blog/bushfire-and-flood-resilience).
MADEmodular / MADEbetter.
MADEmodular / MADEbetter.