How the pandemic makes us get closer to the outdoors and reinvent spaces
Outdoor spaces like balconies, decks, patios, and porches are 'precious' amenities for both homeowners and renters. The past year and a half of lonely living during a pandemic has turned them into priceless real estate assets. Now the demand skyrockets. “Today, any outdoor space is more appreciated than ever,” said Catarina Bannier, Compass agent in the DC area.
The fresh air is intoxicating. The pandemic has heightened our sensitivity to the beauty of the outdoors. “We spend a lot of time in the garden, taking care of the plants, enjoying being together. My kids needed screen breaks and exercise, and I needed to de-stress and get some fresh air and sunshine,” Amy Suardi said of her five children ages 8-19. And she added: “We cultivate, remove all the weeds, add compost and plant sunflower and zinnia seeds. We plant blackberries along the driveway and edible flowers like nasturtiums and chamomile,” she said.
Suardi and her husband, Enrico, live in Northwest Washington on a small lot not far from Wisconsin Avenue. When the pandemic hit, “suddenly simple things became precious and our garden started to feel like wonderland,” Suardi said. She began writing short essays, poems, and mini-memoirs on an online blog. After seven months, she had enough to fill a book. My Beautiful, Terrible Pandemic Life, which finally came out last year.
Michele Grace Hottel, an architect from San Diego, watched people create their own pop-up outdoor spaces. “I saw people install outdoor rooms in the front, side and back yards and even in driveways. They left out the dining room tables and chairs and added fire pits. They reinvented places for small gatherings with family, friends, and neighbors,” she said.
Brendan Doyle, owner of Planterra, a landscape design and construction company founded in 1985 in DC and now based in Portland, Oregon, said the pandemic increased people's desire to be close to nature. “During covid everyone wanted to go outside because it was a safer place. Clients asked me to make new outdoor spaces and plant four-season flower gardens and edible gardens,” he said.
One client preferred a Clematis collection, a flower from the buttercup family with 300 varieties. Another sought out his expertise to create a children's play area and outdoor dining area. “I designed and planted a garden for a man who was barely aware of nature before the pandemic. He now he wanders around the lawn with hand pruning shears clipping his grass blades,” Doyle said. And he expanded: “Even I bought a pot with wheels, I placed it on my terrace and I am growing green leafy vegetables. I go out and pick up fresh salad every night for dinner,” he said.
Two self-described queer (a gender and sexual identity other than heterosexual and cisgender) couples, Lauren and Jessie Garner, parents of an 18-month-old son named Kendall, and along with Zendzi and Rachel Curry-Neal , who have 7-month-old twins Johari and Jadzia, have been friends for a long time. The pandemic also crystallized his desire for geographic proximity.
They decided to build a duplex in Northeast Washington, on a lot originally purchased by Zendzi Curry-Neal's grandmother in the 1940s. There will be two houses side by side with shared outdoor space in the backyard and on the patio. The front. A walkway will lead to steps up to a porch shared by both houses. An entry door will open into a foyer with a private door on each side leading to two living spaces. “I visualized scenarios of shared spaces, especially outdoors. Our kids play in the yard together and come home from school in the rain and take off their wet shoes on the porch,” said Rachel Curry-Neal.
High demand for outdoor living
The trend in outdoor living predates the pandemic, said Kermit Baker, chief economist at the American Institute of Architects. “It really started to take off around 2009-2010 and was going strong for over a decade. Last year there was an increase in this need across the country as a result of the pandemic,” Baker said.
In September, the AIA released its survey of home design trends for the third quarter of 2021, “which showed a significant new uptick in interest in outdoor living space,” Baker said.
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As outdoor entertainment became popular, the purchase of accompanying items increased. “The demand for outdoor accessories has been exponential. I would say interest has increased at least 50% with the pandemic,” said Joseph Smith, a partner at Owings Brothers Contractors in Eldersburg, Maryland. And he expanded: “People are asking for decks, covered porches, screened-in porches and swimming pools,” he said.
John DeForest of DeForest Architects said that when the pandemic first hit, many architects thought they would get requests to add or remodel home office space. “But instead, people longed for a connection to the outdoors in the form of large windows and doors that opened onto terraces and covered patios. I think there has been an increase in demand for outdoor spaces that is clearly related to the pandemic. Instead of creating additional space in basements and attics, many recent clients have expressed a desire for more exposure to the elements, a broader visual horizon, and perhaps a sense of escape from being confined,” said DeForest.
The specialist maintains that protected sites with radiant heaters, windshields, comfortable furniture and fire features provide more space and flexibility throughout the year.
“In recent times the demand for swimming pools has increased. I can't tell you how popular they are right now, but you can't get one until next year because there's a shortage of materials and we don't have enough skilled labor,” Smith said. And he adds: “In addition, the demand for inputs such as pavers, cultured stone and low-maintenance terraces is so great that we cannot always ensure the inventory of the necessary material. Undoubtedly, Covid-19 has created a double whammy: the challenges of supply and demand.”
Product supply problems are spreading throughout the country. A colleague of Smith's has a waiting list of 10 pools and something similar happens with the materials needed to put up a dock,” said Shapiro, division manager of the company's On Your Lot-East Coast division.
Brad Blank, president of the DC Metro Division of Tri Pointe Homes in Potomac, Maryland, agreed that building supplies are taking longer to arrive. “In addition, manufacturers have discontinued a number of products to streamline their production, so we have to carefully select substitutions that stay in line with the style and function of our designs,” he said.
The builders respond
Cindy Plackmeyer, board member of the Maryland Construction Industry Association and vice president of UrbanBuilt, a general contractor in Baltimore, said, “Smaller, nimble builders with fewer national restrictions on design responded quickly to consumer preferences. buyers creating the outdoor options they wanted.”
Tri Pointe is putting more effort and creativity into the initial design of their homes. “We are making outdoor spaces as important as indoors. We want them to be memory points for our customers,” said Blank. "With more time spent at home, balconies, patios and rooftops have become a priority for buyers."
Pulte Group Architects are including porches in most of their new homes in the communities of Potomac Shores in Northern Virginia, Mason Park in Fairfax, Virginia, and Bull Run Reserve in Centerville, Virginia. “Porches provide not only extended living space, but also charm and character to the urban landscape,” said Rian McClevey, vice president of sales operations for Pulte's Mid-Atlantic Division.
Demand for porches, patios and decks predates the pandemic but has accelerated because of it, said Paul Emrath, vice president of housing policy surveys and research at the National Association of Home Builders. Citing NAHB surveys, he said that 65% of the roughly 990,000 single-family homes built in 2020 were designed with porches, up from 63% in 2010; and 61% were built with patios, up from 45% in 2010. “There is no doubt that the pandemic has enhanced the outdoor living trend and we will enjoy living outdoors even if the motivation for health is not there,” he said. AIA's Baker.
“The pandemic has drawn attention to what people already knew, if only subliminally, that is, that we get great benefits from interacting with nature,” said Theo Adamstein, sales associate at TTR Sotheby's International Realty. “A grassy garden, a hammock on the porch or a deck chair, a beautiful garden, can help clear your mind and induce a state of calm.”
