ENCLOSED HAVEN

From the classic and delicate Heke Street house in Freemans Bay (Mitchell Stout, 1988) to Guy Tarrant’s Point Chevalier courtyard house (finalist in the 2017 Home of the Year awards), courtyard houses have a solid grounding in our local architectural history.

This is a centuries-old typology, and courtyard houses can be found throughout the world. More relevantly for us here in New Zealand, there is a rich Asia-Pacific cultural heritage to draw inspiration from when considering a building that utilises interior garden or courtyard areas. Interior courtyards incorporated into buildings are often found in Japanese architecture, for example. are very small interior courtyards which allow additional sunlight into buildings while also providing natural views into the space from the building.