A courtyard oasis in the middle of the village
In developing her own property, designer Emily Aring honed a playful, functional integration of inside and outside. Three small freestanding ‘rooms’ form a south-facing courtyard, which functions as a large outdoor living room with the sky for a ceiling. This outdoor living space is defined and furnished with textured, structural plantings. Apple, plum, fig and bay trees create leafy sub-rooms in which to feel sheltered and take nourishment.
This novel layout satisfied some important spatial needs. Primarily, the tiny lot (.25 acre) would have been sadly crowded by one larger structure with a skinny, unusable yard around it. Instead, a surprisingly intimate spaciousness occurs—the structures wrap around the garden and one can gaze onto the sun-dappled courtyard from any room. Accompanying this spaciousness is a real sense of shelter and privacy—the courtyard is visible to no-one but the dwellers. Additionally, each room provides significant personal space from the others. The act of going from room to room is refreshing and activating. Functionally, all of the utility zones happen behind the buildings, leaving the interior gardens uncluttered.
