A courtyard house built for long, slow summer days in the city

The courtyard house is an old answer to a city summer, and we still think it is the best one. Every room opens onto shade, and the centre stays a few degrees cooler than the street outside.

This project sits on a narrow plot between two taller neighbours. From the street it shows a single brick wall and a timber door. Inside, every room turns towards a planted court about the size of a small living room.

Planning around the open centre

We placed the kitchen and the family room on the north side, so they look into the court without facing the sun. Bedrooms sit upstairs on the cooler east and south sides, behind deep timber screens that can be folded back at night.

The court itself has a shallow pool, two trees and a stone bench that catches the morning light. Water and leaves together drop the temperature noticeably, and the sound of both covers most of the noise from the road.

Living outside without leaving home

For most of the year the family eats in the court. Sliding doors on three sides disappear into the walls, so the line between inside and outside depends on the weather, not on the plan.

A good courtyard is not a garden you look at. It is a room without a roof.

On the roof we planted a strip of grasses along the parapet. It shades the upper rooms, softens the view from the neighbours and, by the second summer, had become the place where the children go to read.

The house uses less energy than the apartment the family left, and it is twice as quiet. They tell us the court is the reason for both.