The outside can be
approached in a similar way to the inside of your home. It may be relatively open and benefit from
an overall design plan like the backyard on a roof project, or
centered on a small building- a studio, recreation space or office converted from a garage,
or arranged by functional groupings of individual elements such as movable or fixed decks, raised
beds or planting containers, sunning surfaces, shading solutions, large and small enclosures,
storage structures, task areas and coordinated furniture for changing uses. Your exterior space may also
already have a logical progression of outdoor rooms: backyard, front yard, decks, patios, balconies
or terraces that can be supplemented by specific design additions to clarify and enhance
functionality. Here are a few examples of SUPERORGANISM projects for
outside that range from mobile deck structures and a cantilevered storage building which eliminates the expense of a foundation, to furniture in
rectilinear forms of Brazilian hardwood (which builds on earlier designs) to a
cedar bench of repeating planes that form a base and rotate up to become table, seat and backrest to
experimental chairs built from common 2x3’s with backs that function as announcement boards.
clockwise from top left: table or bench; a cedar bench with an extended
base; a bench with side tables/benches and at the entry, a cat home with a floral
roofdeck; a storage structure suspended off the back of a converted garage provides easy access to a 12' wide space with two 4' wide doors, the raised and angled roof is oversized to catch and direct rainwater from the roof; one of a set of rolling planters; chairs designed to create a social and
information space outside the "Thank-you for Coming" experimental
art/food storefront in Atwater Village; mobile deck/shade structure for a yard; artist studio doors design based on turn of the century garages complements a classic Spanish style Los Angeles bungalow.