Courtyard House is meant to explore the relationships between inside and outside and what joining these areas means in terms of our own sense of protection. In doing so it attempts to speak to a broader notion of how we feel connection and what makes us feel comfortable and protected.

Interior spaces are situated around four courtyards and three porches. Colonnades formed by timber posts define areas of transition between interior and exterior. These bridging zones connect the interior spaces to the exterior courts, while also serving as protected exterior walkways around the house.

The utilization of natural building materials also facilitates a connection, this time to nature, while suggesting authenticity and honesty. These are critical aspects of connection that we need to feel, even if it is on a subconscious level. Natural building materials make that link, they make us feel whole, interconnected, and a sense of belonging to something bigger than ourselves.

Low pitched standing seam metal roofs reference a very typical suburban aesthetic, but playful manipulation of the roof forms transforms the mundane into a more dynamic contemporary gesture of shelter, a key aspect of protection, while carefully integrated clerestory windows bring abundant amounts of natural light to interior spaces.