Courtyard House

On a generous plot the easy move is to place the house in the middle and leave garden around it. This design does the opposite. The boundary wall is drawn into the architecture and the site divided into a sequence of walled outdoor rooms, each with its own character. A narrow planted passage runs the length of one flank between the wall and a deep overhanging soffit, stepping stones set into gravel beneath mature palms. On the other side a long dark reflecting pool lies against the house and terminates in a colonnaded pavilion. The same ribbed blockwork is used on the boundary and on the building, so wall and house read as one continuous fabric and the courtyards feel carved out of it rather than left over. Every room takes its outlook from these spaces — none has to rely on the boundary for a view.