A Toronto home with an interior courtyard

Posted on Fri, 22 Mar 2019 by KiM

I have always dreamt of having some type of greenery/outdoor space indoors. With cold seasons here lasting about 8 months a year, we Canadians crave some life during these months and having a year round space to grow a tree would be amazing. Whoever lives in this award-winning house in Toronto that has an indoor courtyard is VERY fortunate. Designed by Atelier Sun. Because of the limited lot area with a request of a large scale house, the interior designer immediately thought about an indoor courtyard to bring greenness, light and shadow inside the house. A double height ceiling interior courtyard was at the center of the house with a series of landscapes and bamboo to integrate outdoor nature with indoor dwelling. The kitchen, dining room, living room, tea room and study room were placed and stacked around the central courtyard to give users visual access. Rooms are stacked and arranged around the central courtyard, creating a vertical village like spatial relationship while providing a certain degree of privacy. Stairs were located adjacent to the courtyard, providing access to all floor levels. Family members can communicate across the courtyard and maintain visibility of each other. With large windows placed at four sides of the building, and the skylight on top of the central courtyard, this stacked spatial planning enables light to stream into the entire house.

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