Problem
People use open space if it is sunny, and do not use it if it isn’t, in all but desert climates.
Solution
Always place buildings to the north of the outdoor spaces that go with them, and keep the outdoor spaces to the south. Never leave a deep band of shade between the building and the sunny part of the outdoors.
Related Patterns
… within the general ideas of location which Site Repair (104) creates, this pattern governs the fundamental placing of the building and the open space around it with respect to sun.
Let Half-Hidden Garden (111) influence the position of the outdoors too. Make the outdoor spaces positive - Positive Outdoor Space (106) - and break the building into narrow wings - Wings of Light (107). Keep the most important rooms to the south of these wings - Indoor Sunlight (128) and keep storage, parking, etc, to the north - North Face (162). When the building is more developed, you can concentrate on the special sunny areas where the outdoors and building meet, and make definite places there, where people can sit in the sun - Sunny Place (161) …
Alexander, Christopher. A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction. Oxford University Press, 1977, p. 513.