---
title: "Hierarchy of Open Space (114)"
created: 2026-07-01
updated: 2026-07-01
type: concept
status: compiled
namespace: pattern-language
pattern_number: 114
pattern_name: "Hierarchy of Open Space"
source_repository: https://github.com/zenodotus280/apl-md
source_url: https://github.com/zenodotus280/apl-md/blob/master/Patterns/Hierarchy%20of%20Open%20Space%20%28114%29.md
license_note: Non-commercial reuse with attribution; see namespace README and source LICENSE.md.
related_patterns:
  - "Site Repair (104)"
  - "South Facing Outdoors (105)"
  - "Positive Outdoor Space (106)"
  - "Garden Seat (176)"
  - "Half-Hidden Garden (111)"
  - "Activity Pockets (124)"
  - "Small Public Squares (61)"
  - "Private Terrace on the Street (140)"
  - "Looped Local Roads (49)"
  - "Green Streets (51)"
  - "Accessible Green (60)"
  - "Common Land (67)"
  - "The Countryside (7)"
---

# Hierarchy of Open Space (114)

> Source pattern from the abridged `apl-md` corpus. Use as a design reference and constraint seed; do not treat as commercial-clean training data.

### Problem
>Outdoors, people always try to find a spot where they can have their backs protected, looking out toward some larger opening, beyond the space immediately in front of them.

### Solution
>Whatever space you are shaping—whether it is a garden, terrace, street, park, public outdoor room, or courtyard, make sure of two things. First, make at least one smaller space, which looks into it and forms a natural back for it. Second, place it, and its openings, so that it looks into at least one larger space.
>When you have done this, every outdoor space will have a natural "back"; and every person who takes up the natural position, with their back to this "back", will be looking out toward some larger distant view.

### Related Patterns
... the main outdoor spaces are given their character by [[Site Repair (104)]], [[South Facing Outdoors (105)]] and [[Positive Outdoor Space (106)]]. But you can refine them, and complete their character by making certain that every space always has a view out into some other larger one, and that all the spaces work together to form hierarchies.

For example: garden seats open to gardens - [[Garden Seat (176)]], [[Half-Hidden Garden (111)]]; activity pockets open to public squares - [[Activity Pockets (124)]], [[Small Public Squares (61)]]; gardens open to local roads - [[Private Terrace on the Street (140)]], [[Looped Local Roads (49)]], roads open to fields - [[Green Streets (51)]], [[Accessible Green (60)]]; fields open to the countryside, on a great vista - [[Common Land (67)]], [[The Countryside (7)]]. Make certain that each piece of the hierarchy is arranged so that people can be comfortably settled within it, oriented out toward the next larger space.

---

> [!cite]- Alexander, Christopher. _A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction_. Oxford University Press, 1977, p. 557.
> #APL/confidence/medium
>
> #APL/Building-Patterns/Building-Layout