COURTYARD

The Courtyard House is a renovation and expansion of a 1950s home for a family with flexible and evolving needs. The home is surrounded by mature Coastal Live Oak trees providing a private Northern California setting while situated in a suburban neighborhood. The existing floor plan was poorly organized; in particular the entry was difficult to find, tucked in the middle of the property instead of along the street frontage and hidden from view behind overgrown bushes. 

This home applied multiple design excellence categories with a primary emphasis on design for integration through its preservation of the existing home and landscape features as well as the integration of the other framework principles. The owners wanted to provide a sanctuary for themselves and their three children while welcoming their aging parents for extended stays. Design for discovery was implemented through the collaborative design process between the owners and design team. The house embraces design for equitable communities with its inviting entry space to promote human connection; the family requested an area to provide a place to play, sit and engage with the neighborhood. All of the existing oak trees were protected during construction, a key component of design for ecosystem; the completed home now showcases these long inhabitants of the site. The new program meanders through the landscape connecting indoor outdoor living including an inner courtyard where one can quietly meditate, a covered deck to gather, and a vegetable garden for harvest. Each interior space interacts with its natural surroundings with a thoughtful combination of expansive and framed views for unique encounters. These elements embrace design for wellbeing. Design for economy is found through the opportunity to reuse portions of the existing home including foundation and framing. Finally, design for energy is implemented with the home’s abundance of operable windows and doors to passively cool as well as solar panels for heating the pool and home.