Interior Courtyards

An interior courtyard provides even more space for entertaining, as well as another opportunity to reference the building’s history. Backlighting transforms this 16-foot Cor-Ten steel light fixture into an image of super-sized tulips, a nod to Cruickshank’s history. To create the design, a heavily pixelated image of tulips was translated into perforated steel.

Separating the living room from a smaller seating area is a polished concrete courtyard that can be used for quiet reading or shaded play on hot days. “[It] has become the focus of family life,” Trimble says.

An internal courtyard anchors the house while ushering in air and light. Its materials echo those used in the rear yard. “You get a glimpse of both outdoor spaces when walking through the house,” Abicic says.

The architect incorporated a central courtyard in the house, an unusual but intelligent design response for the region with a temperate climate. “The house sets up an interesting tension between two established [courtyard and farmhouse] typologies,” Crump explains.

The Heids incorporated mostly native plants into the courtyard, which Andrew designed as an ovoid decagon. The George Nelson Platform bench is from Design Within Reach. Solarban low-e glass improves insulation. The layout, says Andrew, is meant to “bring people together.”

The living-dining area of a beach house designed by El Salvador firm Cincopatasalgato features a custom bar cart by local designers Claudia & Harry Washington, a built-in sofa, and an Ikono chair and Circa low tables by The Carrot Concept. An Isis model from Big Ass Fans is above.

For Paul and Shoko Shozi, a pair of retiring Angelenos, the goal was to shut out the neighborhood but bring in the sunny skies. Their new prefab home, the Tatami House, designed by Swiss architect Roger Kurath of Design*21, makes a central courtyard the physical, and maybe even the spiritual, center of the home. Because the Japanese maple in the courtyard had to be planted before the ipe deck was laid, Kurath designed a small removable panel to allow access to the tree’s base. The Shozis can pull up the bit of decking to tend to the tree and replace it when they’re through. And because the boards line up perfectly, only the gardener need know it’s there. From the kitchen and living room you’re well connected to the courtyard and the rest of the house.