Given a choice, most of us would rather be outside. Most people imagine vacations filled with sandy beaches or walks through the woods, not sitting in a room with a TV on, an air conditioner humming, and the shades drawn. That’s not surprising, because if you get down to basics our home is the Earth. Sure, you live in a house, but everything inside that house—the air, water, food, fuel, fabrics, and even all the plastic crap and junk mail—originated outside.

In fact, the whole concept of a place called “inside” is really an abstraction. We are a part of the outdoors, of the self-sustaining ecosystem of the Earth, and as such we need a constant and intimate connection to the outside in order to survive and flourish. The only question is how we go about making that connection. The trend over the last 50 years or so has been to focus on creating indoor environments that can dial in specific variables (air temperature, water temperature, light intensities, etc.) with fine levels of control. A building with a mechanical heating and cooling system and electric lights, for example, can theoretically create a consistent indoor environment regardless of what’s going on outside. That can be a good thing. However, if applied mindlessly, this paradigm leads to exorbitant energy consumption and consequent pollution and pillaging of finite natural resources. (Since about 40 percent of the energy we use as a country is consumed by our buildings, that’s quite a bit of pillaging.) This approach also sets the stage for the cubicle, bad air fresheners that mask poor indoor air quality, and a variety of other side effects of extreme separation from the outdoors.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not suggesting a return to the cave. Campfires are an extremely inefficient and polluting technology. A couple billion of them would be an environmental nightmare. All I’m suggesting is that we expand the concept of where it is that we live. For example, we need to stop thinking of our houses as ending at the front door. For me, a house has three basic parts: indoor rooms, outdoor rooms, and the transitions between them. Outdoor rooms can be designed to be just as functional as indoor rooms. In fact, they generally mirror the uses of indoor rooms, allowing us to choose the best locale for a particular activity based on the weather. This layout can take a load off interior space while adding inexpensive outdoor space.

For example, a home office that combines an interior room with a private covered patio can allow the indoor portion to be much smaller. The same is true of kitchens, bedrooms, living rooms, and even bathrooms in the right situation. The end result can be a smaller house with lower upfront cost, lower utility bills, and happier inhabitants who are spending more time outdoors while still going about their busy modern lives. Smaller buildings using less electricity and fuels also mean less pollution, fewer greenhouse gas emissions, and less dependence on foreign oil. As for existing buildings, adding outdoor rooms won’t make them smaller, but they’ll still benefit from considerably lower utility bills, since you don’t need to heat or cool a building or run lighting when you’re outside.

Some of the “hardships” you might have to endure to reach these frugal and lofty goals are sleeping outside under a ceiling fan on a screened porch off your bedroom, cooking outdoors (five feet from your herb and greens garden) whenever you feel like it rather than waiting for that elusive cookout, taking a private solar shower outdoors under an open sky (note to reader: don’t die without experiencing this!), and typing those emails with the smell of flowers as a backdrop. It’s a hard job, but I say someone has to do it, and it might as well be you!

Though many of us have experienced outdoor spaces that have elements of what I’m describing, most don’t. The reason usually is that they are being short-changed. Successful indoor rooms share basic components. They all have a floor, walls and a roof, for example. They also all have a clear intended use that has been served through thoughtful design and careful follow-through in construction. Outdoor rooms are no different. The floor could be stone, the walls may include a bush, and the roof may prominently feature the sky, but the idea is the same: a collection of elements brought together to create a mood and support an activity. Outdoor rooms can be private, grandiose, playful or solemn. They can be designed to maximize work productivity, encourage social interaction, or be a room of one’s own. In short, they can do anything an indoor room can do…just maybe not in a blizzard.

Okay, so here’s my radical suggestion: Let’s enjoy ourselves immensely by spending more time outside; slash construction, maintenance and energy bills while doing it; and cut pollution and carbon emissions, consequently “saving the world” in the bargain. The only thing standing in our way are the powerful aerosol air-freshener lobbies and cubicle-filled skyscrapers. Fight the power!

Be on the lookout for next month’s column on floors for outdoor rooms so you can stop imagining a life outdoors and start living one.

Clarke Snell is the author of two books on alternatives to conventional construction, The Good House Book and Building Green, and is a regular columnist for New Life Journal as well as a member of the NLJ Green Home Experts Board. He administers Think Green Building, LLC (www.thinkgreenbuilding.com), a consulting and design network that offers land assessments and design consultations on green renovations and new construction.

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