Deck Issue w/ Air Conditioner - Be Creative!

Alright - I own a condo, and on the back I have a deck. As you walk out the back door, you come out onto the left side of the deck. Immediately to the right is the air conditioner, which is placed inside an opening in the deck that is 57.5" wide by 45" long. The air conditioner sits inside of this hole in the deck, and the problem here is that people keep falling into this hole! I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions of how I could eliminate the hole, maintain the proper use of the AC, and make it somewhat practical and useful for when we're on the deck.

I will share with you my idea - I was thinking about creating a table around this hole, where I would have a post on each corner of the opening with some sort of top to it. It just doesn't seem like it's going to be very attractive as far as the deck goes. It WOULD eliminate the problem, but I was wondering if anyone had any good ideas. It'd be nice to use as another table or surface to place things for say a picnic or something rather.

Here is a link to what the hole with the AC looks like (drawing). http://home.columbus.rr.com/dunn/hole.jpg . Any help?

 

YOu may obstruct the flow of air with a table top. Why not just build a handrail/baluster system around it to keep people from falling down into it. You culd build a temporary table top to span across it when entertaining, but not permanently for flow.

 

I agree with chandler.
You cannot restrict the air that blows from the unit.
If you do you will damage the compressor from overheating.
If you do set up a temporary table you cannot operate the a/c when the hole is blocked.

The proper way of dealing with this is what the builder of the deck should have done and that is to relocate the unit.