Bring the outdoors in with a courtyard inside
More natural ventilation and light, a safe, private zone to relax in: there’s a reason why indoor courtyards have been around since ancient Roman times. Bea Taylor reports.
Indoor courtyards are not new. In fact, they were a dominant feature in ancient Roman villas and traditional Mexican haciendas, and the Japanese are also well known for creating intimate, green sanctuaries within their homes.
In Islamic architecture there is an extensive use of indoor courtyards named specifically ‘‘architecture of the veil’’, which describes an often plain and modest exterior hiding the beauty of the indoor courtyard inside.
Apart from being aesthetically pleasing, an indoor courtyard is a great multi-tasking space, providing the home with many benefits. Firstly for how it might be used; as an intimate entertaining space, a safe and private area for kids to play or a small sanctuary.
But also for how it might benefit the lives of those within the home by increasing natural sunlight and natural ventilation. If well designed, an indoor courtyard can help stabilise indoor temperatures and reduce the cost of power bills because of the amount of natural light it brings indoors.
It’s all about light, says Aaron Paterson of Paterson Architecture Collective. ‘‘As the sun moves around your house, a courtyard gives you many vantage points to feel its warmth. It’s a fabulous way to heat your home.’’
‘‘I particularly like the way you can look through the layers of a house from surrounding rooms through to outdoor living spaces,’’ says Jane Aimer from Scarlet Architects.
For an urban house disconnected from nature, an indoor courtyard is the best way to bring nature back into the home.
‘‘Courtyards are inward looking and therefore offer privacy and an intimate connection to interior spaces. It’s a very different feeling than a traditional Kiwi backyard,’’ Paterson says.
‘‘They’re also good on coastal sites when often an afternoon sea breeze kicks in and you need shelter from that,’’ says Aimer.
Added maintenance and cleaning are things to consider when taking on an indoor courtyard and your choice of plants goes hand-in-hand with this. Deciduous trees and plants will drop leaves that could end up indoors. To save time on sweeping and clearing away of the leaves, chose evergreen plants.
David Ponting design director of Ponting Fitzgerald created an indoor courtyard within an Omaha house he designed. It has a centralised grassed area, edged with pebbles and concrete and a smaller garden dotted with palm trees.
He says, ‘‘the effect on arrival is experiencing a gradual reveal of the quiet, hidden space at the centre and the delight of discovering this intimate space.’’
Humanising an indoor courtyard, he says, all comes down to landscaping, colour and texture.
Orientation is another factor to consider, says Paterson. Aimer suggests a north-west aspect to get the last of the sun, ‘‘this tends to be when these spaces are most used,’’ she says.
There are no hard and fast rules on what indoor courtyards should look like, they can be covered, uncovered or partially covered, be paved, have timber decking, be planted or pebbled.
Generally it’s easier to incorporate an indoor courtyard into a new build, but they can be built in to existing houses.
‘‘We have added a cut-out courtyard to an old two-storey bungalow,’’ says Paterson. ‘‘It was quite a big effort but it brought a massive amount of light into an otherwise dark space.’’