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5,901 Outdoor Design Photos And Ideas - Page 3

Claudy Jongstra kneels with a family cat in the yard behind her office and home, which she shares with her partner, Claudia Busson, and their two sons, Eabal and Jesk. Behind her is a small dinghy that the family uses to navigate the numerous irrigation canals that traverse the farmlands throughout Friesland. Despite its modest scale, Jongstra’s studio has worked on major collaborations with Hella Jongerius,Tord Boontje, Steven Holl, andRem Koolhaas, in addition tofashion design for Alexander van Slobbe and costume work for Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.
Hilary Severson and her sons play outside their home, designed by architect Solomon Berg. Set amid mature maples on three acres south of Portland, Oregon, the house has a gabled, standing-seam metal roof and rough-sawn and smooth cedar siding.
Once the home’s prefab components had been delivered to the site and assembled, the couple recruited friends and family to help them build the front and back decks out of red mahogany. A custom outdoor dining table is surrounded by Lucinda Black Stacking Chairs from CB2.
Turning a shipping container into a home is rarely as simple as it sounds, but design studio LOT-EK set out to prove that these vessels could become the raw material for an efficient prefab construction process with a house in upstate New York. Victoria Masters, Dave Sutton, and their daughter, Bowie, live in the six merged containers.
The wood cladding extends outside and wraps around a corner of the facade. Alemán Design Build oversaw the landscaping.
Accompanied by their dog, Gibson, in the gravel courtyard, Kristin and Jim relax on a Driade MT1 armchair and MT3 rocking chair, both by Ron Arad. “We value that modern ideal—where you can easily go outside and where small rooms feel bigger,” says Alter.
Outside the entrance is an impressive hoja santa, or Mexican pepperleaf, plant. “We weren’t sure it would like the shade, but it has become this incredible thing,” says designer Kevin Alter.
The Pemberton Residence in Austin, Texas, was designed by local firm Alterstudio with inspiration from California modernist design.
The steps that lead from the covered patio down to the pool are crafted by a local brand, creating a connection between the built form and the site.
The flat roof, which is accessible from the first floor, has been planted with native vegetation, which will help to provide insulation as it grows.
A terrace covered by a pergola runs past the private volume (which contains three bedrooms of equal size and a bathroom on the ground floor) to the covered patio, and down the stairs to the pool.
For cross ventilation, the residents can open and close the large sliding doors around the porch, which the architect describes as “the heart of the home.” Likewise, windows are positioned to provide breezes when necessary.
To protect the home from the sun in the summer, the south facade has less windows and a pergola over the terrace.
Steps lead down the sloped site from the patio to the pool, allowing the home to “drape” over the topography.
The living room opens to the private, walled exterior courtyard at the front. “I really love the design of the courtyard and the fact that you can see it from everywhere in the house,” notes Fox. The ottoman is from Jardan and the outdoor chair is Hay.
Fox’s home design encompasses 2637 square feet across four levels, and includes a garage, an independent unit for guests, and two floors for her family of four.
“We took some pains to save the tree,” says Humble of the mature cherry tree that was preserved in the redevelopment. “We used it to focus all of our new openings.”
Claudine and Isaiah enjoy the view from the rooftop deck. “A place that provided a sense of serenity was huge for us, especially living in the city and with our busy lifestyle,” say the couple. “We wanted a place we can come home to and feel relaxed and at peace.”
The original front porch swing inspired the couple to add one at the back. “We wanted to figure out how to recreate that hangout space in the back, where the kitchen and dining room were,” says Dean.
The landscaping was intended to be as low-maintenance as possible for professionally touring musicians. (Though during the pandemic, obviously, there is plenty of time for yard work.) The little covered veranda could act as a mini stage for backyard acoustic shows in the future.
Dean’s post-college time living in a Japanese monastery had some influence on the veranda here: “You’d move around the building via little wooden decks. I think it’s a nice transitional space between indoors and outdoors.”
The screen of thin white slates also acts as a privacy shield, as the home is right on lot lines.
Windows open directly from the kitchen to the breezeway between the main building and the screened porch, making alfresco dining easy. When the sun shines on the breezeway, the family simply moves the table and chairs to the north patio.
Diane chose a metal cladding due to the risk of fire in the Ponderosa forest. As a result, the insurance costs for the cabin are very low compared to the neighboring cabins.
The facade, defined by a wall of glass on one end of the L-shaped dwelling, illuminates the muted living area.
The modern dwelling incorporates its woodsy-yet-urban surrounds through copious glazing.
The main house is a white stucco block—really, it couldn’t be more different from this modernist box. “Well, they both have flat roofs,” laughs Zünkeler.
When Dunin first went for measurements, the whole family was out on their tiny porch, gardening, reading, and listening to the radio—it was clear that a great outdoor space was all but necessary. A new deck with a built-in planter box is now their go-to hangout.
“We wanted low maintenance,” says Szczerbicki of the home’s exterior, which was clad in cedar and oiled once. “We’ll watch it patina and go gray with time.”
The outdoor shower is in constant use and was a request from the clients. It’s accessed through the indoor shower.
Plenty of opportunities for action await—including this custom skate ramp.
An 18-meter-long swimming pool invites the kids in for a dip.
Longan and cherry trees were provide shade for a small sitting area in the backyard.
The pool is just under a foot deep and stretches nearly the full width of the building.
The rooftop terrace includes a small glazed altar built in honor of the client’s late mother. The tree canopy will fill out over time to create more shade and give the effect of a “miniature park on the roof,” say the architects.
The trees used in the project were salvaged and transported from a nearby orchard, which was being redeveloped.
Reclaimed timber was used to built the shaded parking structure in the entrance area.
A large lawn serves as a buffer between the main house and the rear workspace where pho is prepared for the family restaurant every morning.
A deck connects the container home to the outdoors.
Wrapped in glass on three sides, the Woodnest tree houses offer panoramic views of the surroundings mountains and fjord.
A few yards away from the tree houses, a wooden staircase connects with a path that leads through the wooded hillside to a parking area down below. Steeper sections of the mountainside trail are navigable by using steel staircases and hand-placed stone steps.
Sally Aano next to one of the two recently completed tree houses.
Designed by Helen & Hard Architects, Woodnest is a pair of rentable dwellings suspended from living trees in Odda, Norway.
Homes in the Lido Shores neighborhood in Sarasota, Florida, have adapted to the sunny climate.
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Whether it's a backyard patio, an infinity pool, or a rooftop terrace, these modern outdoor spaces add to the richness of daily life. Escape into nature, or get lost in city views. Wherever you are, let these outdoor photos take you somewhere new with inspirational ideas for yards, gardens, outdoor tubs and showers, patios, porches, and decks.