Fences ideas for Screening Air Conditioners

March 3, 2012

Air Conditioner Screen with Fence & Arbor

An early step in the design process of any project is to take an inventory of the sites existing conditions. In addition to studying the sit you need to understand where your property lines are, setbacks, local codes and other criteria that is not visible. This done by defining your project and the project area and gathering related information. One topic studied should be the internal and external views, both wanted and unwanted. We often screen negative views outside of our project area with a variety of plant materials and/or solid structures like fences. Spruce trees and other evergreens are popular choices for year round screening. However deciduous plants should not be ruled out, even after the leaves have fallen plants with dense branching still make good screens. Screening internal negative views often needs to be approached with increased sensitivity. I often see attempts to screen an unwanted feature within a garden project that ultimately draws more attention to the screening device and distracts from desired focal points.

We will use Air Conditioning units as an example of screening within a project. More often than not it seem that we need to screen air conditioner units in an area that is already pressed for space. If you are considering using plant materials to screen your Air Conditioner you need to provide plenty of space to allow room for the plant to grow and to allow good circulation for the Air Conditioner. We often use fence structures with opening gates and/or removable panels. We design them to allow good air flow to the Air Conditioning unit. This means that it is better to use a fence design that has spindles rather than solid panels. In addition you do not want the fence or screening structure to stand out as a screening device, but rather to stand out as a desired structure. You should design the screen with the thought that you it would ultimately be something you would want in your in project even if there was nothing to screen. If you can make it look like the screen was there first and that the Air Conditioners, trash cans, or other items were added later. This would be a success screening solution. This is often achieved by allowing the garden structure to flow beyond the screen point and into other areas of the project. If you could have a fence on one end of your garden screening your Air Conditioning unit and the same fence on the other end for aesthetic reasons only, perhaps both would look like they were there because you desired them. A single short fence only large enough to screen your Air Conditioning unit can be effective, but it is also more difficult to draw attention away from it.

In the project shown, we designed a garden entry with a fence and gate. We needed a tall fence to screen the large Air Conditioning unit, but did not want to close off the view to and from the garden. We stepped the fence section incrementally 9” inches, making the lowest sections running perpendicular to gate 18” lower than the taller outer sections. The gate itself created a strong sense of entry and draws your eye away from the section of fence which conceals the Air Conditioning unit. Our clients bought an Air Conditioning unit that is a quite running model, which I thought was a very good decision considering its proximity to their garden and outdoor room.

If you are interested in our help with your screening project you can contact us, Niwa Design Studio, at 952-470-1882.

Posted in Arbors and Pergolas, Fences, Gates, Landscape