A small, dull and dark courtyard is turned into a usable place with visual qualities.
The courtyard sits in an urban city block consisting of commercial and residential buildings from the early 20th century. The courtyard was at the start of the project only surfaced with asphalt and there were some scattered planting pots around. It was only used to get access to the surrounding building.
The design and the building process have been interwoven with a lot of time spent on the site for the architects. The material used on the ground consists of a white stained concrete with inlays of Norwegian slate. There has been great attention paid to details and finishes to make sure that the space gets an “indoor feeling” to it. Due to the fact that part of the building also lays under the courtyard, the architects had to work with materials that did not required a lot of depth as well as to raise all planting above ground. The furniture and the planting boxes are custom made and slightly raised above the floor so that it can easily be removed when required for maintenance or because of other reasons. The façade to the common service building was also replaced. The courtyard is now frequently used by the residents and provide good views from the surrounding apartments.