The island of Nantucket maintains its character as a quaint yet idyllic oceanside community through careful planning and oversight of its built environment. The architectural response often derives inspiration from a blend of conformance and challenge to tradition. The Courtyard House by architect Workshop/APD is a beautifully executed example of this design strategy. Paying homage to an Italianate style of living spaces organized around a courtyard with a central water feature, this residential compound creates an inwardly focused assembly of traditional individual Nantucket forms cohesively joined together with spaces that flow seamlessly from interior to exterior.
Each building volume represents an element of program housed within a traditionally-shingled gabled volume. The challenge to tradition comes in the detailing of the spaces which requires the thoughtful introduction of structure to accomplish. The open gables create large internal spaces with limited visible means of support. Walls to the courtyard are often removed to offer unencumbered physical and visual connection between the indoor and outdoor spaces.
The exposed details of structure become significant design elements within the space. Exposed truss ties in the dining room were designed as separated pairs of exposed steel plates to allow for inset lighting. The separation allowed space for uplighting used to define the volume of the room as well as spotlights and hanging lights to focus on functional surfaces below.
At the ends of gabled forms, end walls are pushed to the interior to define an entry sequence. The extended planes of the roof and walls at these locations offer shade and shelter and create a transition zone between indoor and outdoor space.
PROJECT TEAM
Architect: Workshop/APD, General Contractor: Reid Builders, Landscape Architect: Ahern LLC
