Thursday, July 23, 2009

Outdoor Rooms

The resurgence of the outdoor room is a reflection of yet another new attitude and set of cultural values. The re-emergence of the front porch, screened porch and sleeping porches can be in part attributed to the New Urbanism movement that began more than 25 years ago in an effort to reintroduce traditional urban and architectural patterns as a countermeasure to suburban sprawl. This re-emergence has contributed to the growing “green” message that we must change our living patterns if we’re to maintain a livable Earth.

The green living movement has been instrumental in getting us all to re-examine our connection to nature again. In this paradigm shift, the outdoor room will again play a part in the American daily living pattern.

As we look to ways to live lightly on the land and with a better connection to nature, we’ll optimize the terraces, porches and other extended spaces of our houses. These spaces allow us to acclimate our bodies in ways that we used to and diminish the need to turn down the thermostat at the end of a hot day. And, the unintended consequence could have a significant cultural effect: reconnecting us back to each other and our community.

Want to create an outdoor room or spruce up the one you have? Check out these websites for ideas.

www.notsobighouse.com
www.hgtv.com/designers-portfolio/outdoors/index.html
www.outdoorrooms.net
www.backyardamerica.com/outdoor-room.htm
www.outdoorgreatrooms.com

Source: New Life Journal.

The Magazine of Greenville had an article in it on a guy that took two city lots and turned it into a garden with the design of creating garden rooms like you would have in a home. Rooms To Grow

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