Completed in January 2022 by FGR Architects, the Courtyard Residence in Melbourne resembles a rectangular origami of concrete and glass.
The Courtyard Residence Technical Information
- Architects1-2: FGR Architects
- Location: Melbourne, Australia
- Topics: Single Family House, Concrete, Patio
- Project Year: 2022
- Photographs: © Peter Bennett
A low-rise form contains a masterful series of concertinaed spaces. Adopting the classic Mediterranean model of a central courtyard, the house thrives on external privacy and internal experience. Moments of stillness and exuberance exist within this continuum.
– FGR Architects
The Courtyard Residence Photographs
Text by the Architects
The Courtyard Residence resembles a rectangular origami of concrete and glass. The project’s ambition is a design of calm expression, heightened experience, and seamless function.
Concrete geometry and bespoke glass apertures deliver privacy and prismatic delight. An understated street elevation with implied, layered volumes realizes a heightened sense of intrigue and wonder. If the streetscape view is mainly private, the interiors bloom poetically with warm materiality.
A low-rise form contains a masterful series of concertinaed spaces. Adopting the classic Mediterranean model of a central courtyard, the house thrives on external privacy and internal experience. Moments of stillness and exuberance exist within this continuum.
Water as wellspring is the focus of the courtyard as an oasis. Reflection and delight are contrasted by the monumental energy of matte and polished concrete. Muted surfaces celebrate a sophisticated rawness throughout, supported by the evolving dance of light, shadow, and reflection.
A restrained material palette, notably selected timbers, and fine steel windows contribute nuance and elegance.
Despite its heroic elements, the house transcends its gallery-like scale and functions as a series of beautifully proportioned living spaces. Flexible options for opening and closing interiors with sliding glass walls makes for an immersive connection with the pool, courtyard, and sunlight. Equally, the house can be closed down as required to mediate harsh weather and optimize thermal performance.
Concrete walls and overhangs are incorporated for shade and shelter. This design vocabulary of burnished, creamy concrete finishes flows from the inside out, often appearing almost luminous in its sculptural force.
Principal living spaces radiate from the courtyard yet offer delight, whether fully open to the courtyard or as discrete spaces. Offering serenity – with plenty of scope for exuberance and play – the Courtyard Residence offers inspired scope for family living.
The Courtyard Residence Plans
The Courtyard Residence Image Gallery
About FGR Architects
FGR Architects obsess over creating the best possible architecture for the human body, heart, and mind. Design is the firm’s thing. Much more than an imposed shape or space, it’s the culmination of the client’s story and the firm’s story. There are boxes to tick, and then there’s the art of enlivening a structure with thoughtfulness and consideration. Architecture has to reduce, shrink, and distill before it becomes genuinely expansive. FGR Architects subtract in order to add, allowing the client to clearly see that it is architecture that knows what it is doing and where it is headed.
- Director/Design Architect/Lead Architect: Feras Raffoul
- Project Architect: Williams Liau
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