Project:Β Yo-Ju Courtyard House
Architects:Β Wittman Estes
Location:Β Clyde Hill, Washington, USA
Area:Β 3,460 sf
Photographs by:Β Courtesy of Wittman Estes
Yo-Ju Courtyard House by Wittman Estes
Wittman Estes has designed the Yo-Ju Courtyard House in the town of Clyde Hill in the state of Washington. With just under 3,500 square feet of living space, this modern dwelling is designed as a suburban single-family home with an emphasis on privacy. It has been designed around around courtyard with strong connections to its outdoor areas and plenty of glazed surfaces that bring natural light inside without sacrificing privacy.
What happens to the suburban single-family home as cities become dense and privacy becomes limited? It must look inward. Through a series of thresholds from opaque to transparent, Yo-Ju Courtyard House, which means βsecluded livingβ in Mandarin Chinese, embraces the future of suburban density by establishing a private experience despite being adjacent to a busy arterial street in the Clyde Hill neighborhood of Bellevue.
Home to an active family with three young children, the architects addressed the challenges of future densityβthe danger of increasing traffic with playful children, noise pollution, and decreased amount of natural vegetationβby having the house look inward instead of outward. The house draws upon the traditions of βChinese courtyard and garden design, along with the ideas underlying Chinese landscape painting techniques, to rethink the traditional single-family homeβ says architect Matt Wittman.
Designing around Courtyards. The design is organized in three elements: 1) the entry courtyard, which is screened from busy NE 24th Street; 2) the house living volume, which presents an opaque facade to the street, and a transparent facade to the rear; and 3) the garden courtyard, which is composed of a secluded zone in the rear yard where children can play freely. The courtyard house connects space with nature. The entry courtyard functions as a threshold between the street and the interior. A black-stained, tight knot cedar fence marks the next transition as a concrete path moves through a bed of grasses and a Japanese Maple tree. Inside the secluded garden courtyard, all signs of urban life disappear within the oak casement of the kitchen, concrete flooring, and floor-to-ceiling sliding doors.
By creating the illusion of large spaces that seamlessly transition to outdoor views, the house used one third less of a footprint than was allotted. Chinese landscape paintings employ a βatmospheric perspectiveβ technique to enhance the perception of depth of space. Yo-Ju uses this technique to create βvisually larger spaces than what actually existβthe eye marks the level of oak stairs, then the large sliding doors, finally reaching the garden courtyard beyond,β says Matt Wittman. This spatial efficiency help shape a new model for suburban housingβa decreased footprint that allows for maximum energy savings and increased planting area, privacy, and views into nature.
Public / Private. The house uses two major program zones to shape layers of privacy and community,β Matt says that were βinspired by an ancient Chinese garden design principle known as βBig Hide.ββ The communal spaces open up in the center of the house while the private ones are situated at the front of the house on two levels. Hidden in the private areas, the upper floor is arranged around a craft and teaching space for the familyβs three children. In the communal spaces, the house opens up to the lounge and kitchen, and then onto the main living and dining. These public areas are arranged around the garden courtyard, with open corner doors that connect all the spaces together. Through design rooted in courtyards, transitional program zones, and borrowed views, the Yo-Ju Courtyard House aims create a new model for single-family housing.