2017 Houses Awards: Outdoor

Jury comment

In this modest but ambitious project, the architect has used a light touch to maintain and enhance a house already well loved by its owners. A series of courtyard gardens is integral to and indivisible from the interior, with each room in the house opening to or overlooking a densely planted external space.

Lightweight pergolas provide shade and privacy from overlooking to the rear courtyard, while the hit-and-miss recycled brick screen wall around the first-floor bathroom courtyard provides privacy, shade, cooling and outlook. The re-use of salvaged bricks from the demolition of the original rear wing, for both paving and new walls, provides a robust and maintenance-free structure intended to be completely absorbed by the lush and dense planting over time.

This project demonstrates minimal intervention for maximum outcome. It is a delightful and sustainable outdoor space achieved with an economy of means, and it provides a perceived distancing from its neighbours that is rare in such a high-density inner-city location.

See full image galleries of all the winning and shortlisted projects here.

Award for Outdoor is supported by Artemide.