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An Urban Courtyard Oasis that Suggests a Stage Set

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An urban townhouse that occupies the perimeter of the lot – designed for a single client as a brief break from a busy professional life – centers around a courtyard.

En-nobling the means to get home from work with a translucent white plastic screen, the garage is an ever-present part of the courtyard.

Dropping the keys and turning on the TV after a busy day, the client continues through the movie room to the kitchen to unload the groceries.

Movie-watching gets its own wide but shallow room – perfectly proportioned to maximize the experience – that leads directly off the car park.

…but perhaps take-out is brought home, instead!

In this non-kitchen kitchen: food appears on the table by magic. The cupboards are disguised as a modular wall system.

Like in a stage setting, upstairs, the master bedroom faces an occasional guest bedroom across the courtyard below.

The guest bedroom is cleverly designed to accommodate either two visiting single-bed occupants – perhaps nephews or nieces – or a couple.

The only discordant note is sounded by the much more laid back surroundings.

The inner city apartment is sited within an old Auckland neighbourhood of intricately detailed wooden houses from the colonial era.

Fortunately, the view from these older New Zealand houses is of nothing personal, but merely this garden seating on the opposite wall.