COURTYARD LIVING

Courtyards can play a pivotal role in residential design, regulating light, shade, ventilation and the use of open space. With thousands of years of tradition on which to draw, 21st-century architects of the Asia-Pacific are realizing courtyard living afresh. This rich overview presents 25 of the most breathtaking contemporary houses across Australia and Asia: a beachside residence in Sydney with unparalleled sightlines, a tropical Singaporean paradise bridging the generations, a meditative retreat in Sri Lanka and other extraordinary examples in Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines and India. The featured homes reveal how innovative courtyard design can enhance social spaces, ensure privacy and create a direct connection with nature, among other functions. Whether planning a courtyard house of your own, looking for new spatial ideas, or merely considering ways to optimize indoor-outdoor living, this is an essential source of inspiration.

Just-released paperback and original hardback editions are available at bookshops worldwide and through online retailers, including:

Amazon USAmazon UK
Thames & Hudson | Book Depository

AUTHOR
Charmaine Chan

Charmaine Chan has enjoyed a journalism career in Australia, Japan and Hong Kong. She is Design Editor at the South China Morning Post and a triple winner at the Newspaper Society of Hong Kong’s Press Awards. Charmaine lives in a courtyard-free dwelling in a former fishing village in Hong Kong, but plans one day to move into the H-shaped house in Sydney that persuaded her to write Courtyard Living: Contemporary Houses of the Asia-Pacific.

COURTYARD LIVING Preview

COURTYARD LIVING Chapters

PRIVATE LITTLE WORLDS

Cheek-by-jowl development in (sub)urban areas forces architects to design introverted homes.

THE YOUNG, THE OLD AND THE IN-BETWEEN

Courtyard houses allow extended families to live together under the same roof – an enduring ideal in Asia.

ESSENTIAL SIGHTLINES

Voids within houses offer subtle, or obvious, visual connections between rooms and beyond.

AIR, LIGHT, SHADE

Courtyards can provide natural light and ventilation as well as shade and shelter.

BLURRING THE BOUNDARIES

In some courtyard houses, living areas are open to the elements day and night.

Shadow House by SRDA

Dezeen

8 July 2020

Five houses where the courtyard is the heart of the home
Design on Slow-Forward

May 2020

DESIGN TREND REPORT 2020
Esquire

17 April 2020

Modern Cities Will Need to Embrace Green Architecture After COVID-19
Design Pier

16 April 2020

MICRO-INTERVIEWS
Esquire

15 April 2020

How to Design a Live-Work Home for the Post-COVID World
CATCH THE EXPERTS (CatchOn)

8 April 2020

Catch the Experts: The Future of Design After COVID-19
Asian Review of Books

3 March 2020

Non-Fiction, Reviews
Design Anthology

Issue 23

DOSSIER / Read
HOUSES NZ

Issue 54

BOOKSHELF
Apple Daily

4 Dec 2019

蘋人誌:私密空間
Home Beautiful

Dec 2019

THE EDIT
Business of Home

ISSUE 13

14 Nov 2019

BOOK REVIEW
Belle

Nov 2019

Library
The Star

21 Oct 2019

Salient spaces of influence
House & Garden

Oct 2019

GARDENING
PERSPECTIVE

Oct 2019

Auctions & Books
HOUSES

Issue 130

Bookshelf
South China Morning Post

22 September 2019

Garden Variety
Impiana

18 September 2019

Courtyard Living: jadikan kediaman lebih luar biasa
Monocle

3 September 2019

Outside the box
Hong Kong Tatler

3 September 2019

Inside 25 Of Asia's Most Beautiful Contemporary Homes
The Sydney Morning Herald / The Age

30 August 2019

At one with nature: A stylish courtyard for a family of four
The Hong Kong International Literary Festival

14 Nov 2020

EVENTS
Design United's Reading Room, India

29 Aug 2020

EVENTS
Webinar | Catch the Experts

8 April 2020

EVENTS
Straits Clan, Singapore

7 Dec 2019

EVENTS
The Murray, Hong Kong

Book launch / talk (part of the Niccolo lecture series)

7 Sept 2019

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INSTAGRAM

@designunplugged

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