Tranquil Permanence – Courtyard Residence by Wolveridge Architects
Through the use of natural materiality, Courtyard Residence is innately imbued with robust warmth. Conceived by Wolveridge Architects and grounded by Eco Outdoor surfaces underfoot, the home illustrates an assured expression of tactility and texture that exists in concert with its surrounding seaside context.
Heartily welcomed into Courtyard Residence’s design are influences of coastal serenity that challenge the traditional white beach house aesthetic. Rather, soft sandy tones of timber, textiles, stone and rammed earth enrobe the home, proposing calming permanency that communes easily with the natural world. While composed of repeated clean lines that form the abode’s volume of pavilions and encapsulated courtyard spaces, the residence is replete with tactile subtleties on a quieter scale. At closer glance, formwork imprints, pitted ridges and natural edges reveal themselves throughout – reminding inhabitants of the materials’ origins and journey to become the contemporary incarnation before them.
Establishing an apt foundation for Courtyard Residence to communicate its earthen inspiration, Eco Outdoor’s La Roche limestone tiles and Endicott crazy paving form interior and exterior flooring. The use of Eco Outdoor surfaces stitches seamlessly with the home’s aesthetic and ethos; the brand’s curated collection of natural architectural materials celebrates the inimitable imperfection and raw richness that arise from natural environmental processes. Bringing elements found in nature to the Courtyard Residence’s architecture, Eco Outdoor’s flooring products have been sourced, shaped and crafted to impart distinct textural character, enriching spaces with organic soul and augmenting the modern design with unexpected softness.
Emanating a subtle caramel hue and well-acquired character, La Roche tiles duly complement the residence with their lightly distressed appearance and thermal properties. Affirming her selection, Jessica Corbett of Wolveridge Architects details the attributes that drew her eye. “The imperfect and textural finish in the natural stone flooring and its slightly tumbled edge combines durability and beauty,” she says of the limestone tiles that have been softened and smoothened by tumbling. “It speaks to the attention and craft that has gone into the build and that is visible in the selection of natural and earthy materials used throughout.” She asserts that “when considering the flooring material selection, we were conscious not only to compose and tie together the overall rich and warm material palette, but also to leverage the inherent thermal mass properties of the stone as part of a holistic passive solar design approach. In the wintertime, sunlight would heat up the stone, thereby providing passive solar heat gains during the colder months and added comfort internally with minimised reliance on mechanical heating.”
Also adorned with Eco Outdoor flooring, the courtyard’s walkways and pool area have been mosaicked with Endicott crazy paving. Exhibiting intriguing irregularity that punctuates the otherwise linear features of the home, the pavers journey curved paths with puzzle-piece precision. “Externally, the selection of Endicott crazy paving complements the robust and textural finishes of the building itself – and, again a conscious decision of both aesthetic and function to soften the hard paved external spaces, which are intended to recede sympathetically into the landscape,” tells Jessica.
Informal, uncluttered yet abounding in texture, Courtyard Residence’s considered materiality underlies the impact of its grounding timelessness. Resonant in their perpetuity, the home’s solid stone flooring and rammed earth walls interplay with the softness of light and shadow, welcoming a sense of soft tranquillity to radiate throughout.
