Brilliant Examples of Indoor-Outdoor Homes

“There is a lot of glass so you can enjoy the view and the outdoor lifestyle even inside,” Henrik explains. “You live in the middle of the weather somehow. It’s a really harsh environment, as you have these southwesterly winds blowing through the house. But it is really beautiful as well.”

The 57-foot panoramic window was inspired by traditional "Engawa" houses in Japan. Koolhaas preserved its minimalistic aesthetic by camouflaging the supporting wood beam in white laminate and nestling it in the space just beneath the ceiling. He also kept the beam small by installing a tree-like column to help carry the weight of the second floor and roof. "The actual tree that was used for it came out of the garden," the architect says. "In this way, the small forest in the garden continues into the house."

A cement-tile floor carves a path through the dining room as it runs the length of the apartment, blurring the boundary between inside and out.

The glass wall separating the main living area and the inner courtyard garden opens like an accordion to create a barrier-free transition. Built-in planters along the walls of the courtyard add greenery without eating into the valuable surface area of the courtyard.

“Segovia is a very central region, but an underdeveloped one,” de la Quadra-Salcedo says. “Traditionally devoted to agriculture and mainly livestock, it flourished in the sixteenth century but now that the older generations are disappearing, there is a problem of abandoned villages and fields.” The structure highlights the rural surroundings.

The ground floor of the home is both the clients' and architects’ favorite part of the home. The opened living room fulfills the owners’ wish for a private and quiet sanctuary connected to the rear garden yet removed from the noise of the front street. A key design feature was the widened rear opening, with floor to ceiling aluminum-framed Comar glass doors.

McKenzie composes at his dining table, which, like many furnishings in the house, came from a secondhand store. The living area flows into an outside courtyard, whose slats parallel those inside, making it feel like an extension of the main house.