Step inside one of Canada's best designed homes of 2016

Sarah Tolle—Homify Canada Sarah Tolle—Homify Canada
The Courtyard House (2016 Best of Canada), AtelierSUN AtelierSUN Modern Living Room Engineered Wood Transparent
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Created by the architects from ATELIERSUN, The Courtyard House offers a refreshing natural interior characterized by sunlight, plant life, and natural construction materials. The interior of the home is a stand-out design, having received a Best of Canada award in the 2016 Canadian Interiors Best of Canada Design Competition. Focusing on the interior space of a home, the country's only interior-centric design competition presents this prestigious award regardless of size, budget, or location, focusing on the visual and sensory elements as well as design and technology innovations of the interiors of residential, institutional, office, retail, and other types of architecture.

On this homify tour, you'll witness a refreshing blend of indoor and outdoor space as you wander through the levels of a home that's as laid-back and organic as it is minimalist and modern.

​Main floor

The common living space is housed in a single united space, with a quiet seated area to greet you as you enter the home. Immediately, attention is drawn to the presence of a healthy crop of bamboo, which grows in a shaft of sunlight that shines through a skylight in the roof above the second floor. This design creates the semblance of a courtyard for which the structure has been named.

​A view of the entrance

This perspective illustrates the unusually narrow profile of the home—what the dimensions of this space lack in width, the architects have cleverly compensated with height, adding tall double doors and a tall wooden partition that bring special attention to lofty ceilings.

​Stairs

A wooden staircase employs fine lines and lightly coloured surfaces to emphasize the presence of natural light, allowing the sun to pass easily through the fine railings to the bottom floor. A cut-out design permits inhabitants to view the bamboo plant, the showpiece that gives the entire room an organic and natural atmosphere no matter where you stand.

​Stairs

This view allows an observation of a thoughtful balance between open and closed, light and dark, private and public. Narrow wooden slats provide a partial separation that's both fluid and structured, allowing some light—but not all of it—to pass into the kitchen and dining room beyond the stair shaft.

​Spontaneous sitting room

The narrow, vertical nature of the unit takes advantage of oddly-shaped space with the addition of a cozy sitting room that provides a restful moment of pause between floors of the home.

​Bathroom

Once again working within the confines of a narrow space, the architects have created a bathroom that's warming, comfortable, and visually interesting despite its small size. A monochrome white wall gets an modern geometrical touch with the addition of painted frames that bring texture and character while maintaining a clean, reflective surface.

​Upper floor

The lower floor adopts an open layout, and the upper floor is no different! This intriguing design invites the viewer to explore the various nooks and crannies that the maze of walkways holds, with an upstairs sitting room occupying a lovely location beside the leaves of an upward-reaching bamboo tree from floor one. Across the courtyard, the upper floor houses a highly unique bathroom where a transparent pane of glass acts as the only barrier between the bathroom and the rest of the floor. This wide-open feature fills the upper floor with a daring sense of openness, instilling a carefree atmosphere while also allowing prime courtyard views from the comfort of the toilet.

Find ways to add greenery to your home in this feature: 37 ways to grow a vertical garden 

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