Outdoor Awnings & Shading for Farmagudi.

On the Farmagudi plateau, wind has the first and last word on awnings. There is plenty of reason to want one, because sit-outs and west windows bake through the summer, but a folding-arm awning left open in a gust behaves like a wing. Keep the projection modest, fix into concrete and not into brick infill, and wind it in whenever the breeze picks up or the house is empty; on a motorised awning a wind sensor does this unasked. During the monsoon the rain here comes sideways, so treat the awning as shade for the dry months, not as a rain shelter. Polyester fabric is adequate inland; acrylic keeps its colour longer.

• West-facing sit-outs of independent houses: a manual awning of short projection, fixed to the lintel beam and rolled in every evening.
• Flat balconies: a narrow awning held inside the balcony's own depth, and only where the building's rules allow fixings on the facade.
• Shopfronts on the open plateau: a motor and wind sensor on the awning, and mid-tone cloth, on which summer dust is less obvious.