Courtyard House
A brick courtyard house built around one tree
Architecture, Landscape
·
2018–2021
The courtyard and its old pear tree
About the project
On a narrow town plot stood a single old pear tree. We built the whole house around it: four brick wings, one courtyard, and a tree that every room can see.
Typology
Town house
Status
Completed 2021
Location
Odense, Denmark
Client
Private
Size
190 m²
Site
620 m²
Partner
Anna Berg
Looking across the courtyard
Study opening to the tree
The concept
Four rooms, one tree
Each wing holds one kind of room: cooking, living, sleeping and working. The courtyard in the middle is the hall that joins them, open to the sky.
Towards the street the house is almost closed, with only a door and one tall window. All the openness is kept for the courtyard.
Living room facing the courtyard
Material and light
Pale brick, dark timber
The walls are a pale handmade brick, bagged with lime so the joints soften. Window frames and doors are dark-stained oak.
The courtyard floor is the same brick laid on sand, so rain soaks straight into the ground around the tree's roots.
One day in the living room
Morning
07:00
Midday
12:00
Afternoon
16:30
Dusk
19:45
Night
22:00
Bedrooms and kitchens face east, so the day begins with low, cool light across the walls.
At noon the sun stands high in the south, and the deep roof keeps the living room bright without glare.
In the afternoon the light turns warm and low, reaching across the floor to the far wall.
At dusk the west windows hold the last colour of the sky while the room slowly falls quiet.
At night a few low lamps take over, and the windows turn into dark mirrors of the garden.
Credits
Architect
Clerestory
Partner in charge
Anna Berg
Landscape
Maya Ahmed
Project leader
Oskar Lind
Engineer
Fyns Rådgivning
Contractor
Odense Murer
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