This year has seen unprecented changes with huge swaths of the global population effectively confined to their homes in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19. From the beginning of the local lockdowns, individual outdoor spaces such as home gardens, balconies and yards have become a welcome escape from home confinement.
As we adjust to this change, and embrace a “new normal,” there will undoubtedly be long term impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic that impact the future of outdoor space designs and will almost certainly influence what homeowners prefer when our team at Holder Outdoor are designing future outdoor retreats.
Space Optimization-One Emphasis
For the entire existence of Holder Outdoor until COVID-19, the ownership of useful outdoor living spaces was considered a luxury item. particularly when it pertained to large gardens. Since the advent of the lockdown, even modest outdoor spaces have become a more integral part of everyday living. We expect this will result in a trend of more emphasis placed on useful outdoor spaces of any size and scope.
Even as some restrictions are ended, it’s absolutely foreseeable that people will likely be spending much more time in their homes. This makes outdoor living areas much more necessary and useful. The impact on garden and outdoor living designs is that our Holder Outdoor team will have to work creatively to ensure that every inch of an outdoor living design contains usable space.
Whether converting a balcony to make better use of vertical spaces for planting, or creating a comfortable and functional outdoor seating area, the future is clearly going to involve multifunctional and adaptable outdoor spaces that are more useful in more ways than ever before.
Outdoor Space As An Extra Room
As the boundaries between work and home and work and school life have blurred, so too have the boundaries between interior and exterior living spaces. Homeowners are much more likely to utilize their outdoor and indoor spaces interchangeably as weather permits.
There has been a seismic shift in perception. The pandemic has brought forth the realization that an outdoor space can be so much more than a stretch of lawn or a patio constructed from hardscape bricks.
For our designers, we are seeing a trend towards updating outdoor living spaced to make them useful for different purposes over the course of time. We’ve seen more requests for an outdoor quiet spot suitable for reflection or working at home. We have also received requests for dedicated play areas for children, or dedicated spaces for fitness and exercise.
Looking ahead, we anticipate that more practical outdoor spaces will continue to be a trend. Our clients are definitely prioritizing designing outdoor areas for multiple uses all year round. We are seeing a trend that reflects indoor interior designs more closely where more comfortable outdoor furniture and softer fabrics are becoming preferred. We have also begun to experience an increased demand for outdoor buildings that can be used for an office or digital learning space. These space concepts have given birth to a new industry term-‘transterior.’
But Is It Sustainable?
As we have all increased the amount of time spent at home and in our outdoor spaces since lockdown began, there has definitely been a renewed emphasis on sustainability and self-sufficiency.
During the first few months of lockdown in the US, urban gardening has been a massive trend as city residents increasingly grow their own culinary herbs, vegetables and fruits. It is our sincere belief that this trend will later extend to canning and preservation in the fall as the sheer volume of harvested food becomes apparent.
Clearly sustainability has already been a focus over the past several years. At Holder Outdoor, we fully expect that small vegetable, fruit and herb gardens will be a fixture for many of our clients going forward, whether planted in stand alone gardens, beds, or pots, or more integrated into the overall visual design.
As the focus turns to sustainability, natural and sustainable landscape building materials become more desirable. We expect clients to prefer sustainable options such as natural stone and reclaimed wood to be used in outdoor spaces going forward.
Stress Abatement & Mindfulness
As a professional landscape company, our team at Holder Outdoor are already very familiar with the known health benefits that relaxing outdoor spaces and gardening promote. These reduce anxiety and stress and promotes an atmosphere of mindful living-which has become a necessary coping strategy for many at home during this pandemic.
As 2020 continues and the “new normal” unfolds, Holder Outdoor predicts that the traditional expected role of home design to convey security, warmth, and wellness will also extend to our outdoor spaces. Our role will be to evoke this sense of serenity, calmness and wellness through the thoughtful consideration all aspects of the design. These spaces can be designed to promote relaxation and reflection, as well as a feeling of closeness to nature.
The future impacts of COVID-19 cannot all be definitively forecast. What we can be sure of is that the pandemic will have an impact on our lives for the foreseeable future. At Holder Outdoor, we are prepared to respond to the need for more sustainable, adaptable and mindful living spaces.
