Prospect Heights Row House
A row house backyard precedent demonstrating how to maximize a sunken urban courtyard with a raised steel stair, outdoor kitchen, and seamless indoor-outdoor connection.
- What we like about this project
- An organic-shaped dining table creates a fluid circulation path within the strict rectangular geometry of the stone patio.
Materials
- stone
- steel
- brick
- wood
- glass
- stainless-steel
Visual identifiers
- sunken-patio
- steel-staircase
- outdoor-kitchen
- glazed-rear-facade
Style tags
- contemporary
- urban
- modern-rustic
Visual tags
- urban-courtyard
- outdoor-dining
- multi-level
- residential-landscape
- infill
- Geometry
- Multi-tiered urban backyard with a sunken stone-paved patio, a raised steel-framed deck above the lower glass facade, and a side access stair linking the levels.
- Facade system
- Full-height glazed folding doors beneath a cantilevered steel balcony and brick upper floors.
- Structural guess
- Steel moment frame supporting the upper deck and stair structure against existing brick masonry walls.
- Spatial scale
- Human-scaled domestic yard, roughly two stories deep from lower patio to upper terrace.
- Lighting
- Bright, even daylight cast across the courtyard with soft shadow in the recessed dining zone.
- Atmosphere
- Lively and intimate outdoor living space integrated into dense urban fabric.
- Environmental context
- Urban row house backyard enclosed by historic brick party walls and neighboring facades.
- Spatial experience
- The deep urban courtyard acts as an outdoor room, extending the interior ground floor via large glass doors while connecting visually and physically to upper terraces.
- Composition rhythm
- Vertical steel stair structure juxtaposed against horizontal timber and stone retaining walls.
- Style reading
- Contemporary urban vernacular
- Program
- Residential backyard and outdoor dining terrace
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture
- Materials
- stone, steel, brick, wood, glass, stainless-steel
- Visual identifiers
- sunken-patio, steel-staircase, outdoor-kitchen, glazed-rear-facade
- Style tags
- contemporary, urban, modern-rustic
- Visual tags
- urban-courtyard, outdoor-dining, multi-level, residential-landscape, infill
- Geometry
- Multi-tiered urban backyard with a sunken stone-paved patio, a raised steel-framed deck above the lower glass facade, and a side access stair linking the levels.
- Facade system
- Full-height glazed folding doors beneath a cantilevered steel balcony and brick upper floors.
- Structural guess
- Steel moment frame supporting the upper deck and stair structure against existing brick masonry walls.
- Spatial scale
- Human-scaled domestic yard, roughly two stories deep from lower patio to upper terrace.
- Lighting
- Bright, even daylight cast across the courtyard with soft shadow in the recessed dining zone.
- Atmosphere
- Lively and intimate outdoor living space integrated into dense urban fabric.
- Environmental context
- Urban row house backyard enclosed by historic brick party walls and neighboring facades.
- Spatial experience
- The deep urban courtyard acts as an outdoor room, extending the interior ground floor via large glass doors while connecting visually and physically to upper terraces.
- Composition rhythm
- Vertical steel stair structure juxtaposed against horizontal timber and stone retaining walls.
- Style reading
- Contemporary urban vernacular
- Program
- Residential backyard and outdoor dining terrace
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture