Ilana Kister, a director of Kister Architects, created Courtyard House, a new multi-generational holiday home on Mount Martha on mornington Peninsula, Victoria. Working with his clients, he created a shelter based on a close connection to the place, encouraging individuals to evacuate from the hustle and bustle of the city and allow families to rest and recover.
To make the house comfortable and peaceful with the surrounding landscape, the studio was carefully planned to balance privacy, define spatial partitioning, and release from the exposed, slowly sloping grounds. The last home is wrapped in nature and slowly revealed, with most of the volume hidden behind the charred wooden walls of sculptures facing the street.
The new home is defined by a large water tank and a tennis court that previously occupied the site and was demolished during construction to create a wider garden. Its purpose is to protect the landscape and provide shelter to provide privacy for the occupants; At the same time, Ilana uses part of the existing driveway as a sidewalk, retaining the imprint elements of the site and using these elements as a driving force in the direction of the living area, bringing the view into the new landscape area through architectural forms.
Despite being on the seafront, the house felt very rural. It was designed and built in a secluded location and met the owner's idea of allowing the family to relax and enjoy themselves. With no concrete landscape at the site, "focusing on the garden" became the most important key, driving the plan in an angular form rather than creating an "inner private courtyard" to shape and expand the perception of space and distance from neighboring properties.