18. Indoor-Outdoor Sunken Courtyards
Reimagining central home spaces, Indoor-Outdoor Sunken Courtyards bring private, open-air garden spaces right into the center of a home’s floor plan. Surrounded on three or four sides by full-height glass sliding walls, these courtyards function as private open-air oases filled with gravel, boulders, specimen trees, and water features.
When the glass walls are slid open into hidden wall pockets, the entire ground level opens into a single continuous indoor-outdoor environment. Fresh air moves freely through the home, while the sight of changing weather, rain, and daylight becomes a central element of the interior living experience.
Whether designed as a Japanese zen rock garden, a lush tropical fern sanctuary, or a Mediterranean olive grove pit, sunken interior courtyards offer total privacy from neighboring homes while elevating domestic living with peaceful nature access.