Courtyard Landscaping Design

Courtyard design helps establish a relationship with Nature and the main structure of a home or building. They are essential elements of many forms of commercial landscaping, particularly restaurants. Commercial office parks use them as outdoor break areas, and residential properties tend to see the courtyard as a special place set apart for meaningful conversation. While virtually every courtyard is unique in terms of its size and the materials used to build it, most share certain common elements that contribute to the sense of being in what amounts to an outdoor room built for special purposes and special moments.

Scale is the most important thing to consider in courtyard design. We want the scale of the courtyard design to be proportional to that of surrounding trees. This allows us to build the courtyard itself in any number of ways. A courtyard may be constructed out with three or even four brick walls, nestled under the branches of the overhanging canopy. Or, we can build a patio area surrounded by two or three arbors where trellises and vines intermingle with the iron work with the leaves and wood of the trees. We often build a custom fountain to act as a focal point or a centerpiece for conversation. The intent in all of these forms is to create a feeling of warmth and invitation that draws people to the courtyard at all times day or night.

In both residential and commercial environments, planters are often used to line the perimeters of courtyards. The design, materials build, and positioning of these planters is determined by the nature of the structure itself. If it is an open-air structure constructed out of trellises or a grouping of arbors, then sufficient light will penetrate to the ground and allow us to build the planters are frames around the patio and fountain. This is also true if the courtyard has standing walls but is open on the top to allow sufficient sunlight to reach interior plantings. However, we may choose to use planters as exterior elements around smaller structures and garden patios. Particularly in restaurant design, a courtyard surrounding by lush vegetation appears lively and inviting to guests who have recently arrived.

One very popular method of courtyard design in private, exclusive neighborhoods such as River Oaks, Rice Village, and Tanglewood is to build a patio surrounded by hedges that act as walls. In these parts of Houston, this provides one of the most effective compliments to the Old World aspects of home architecture and the magnificent trees that line the streets. Hedges can be made from Japanese yew, larger species of boxwood, or even smaller poplar trees to form the perimeter of an outdoor courtyard seating area within a garden or near a private entrance to the home.

In all of our courtyard designs, perhaps the most important thing to consider next to the importance of scale is lighting. No matter how large or open a structure is, it will only receive natural light for a number of hours during the day. In early morning, evening, and nighttime, even open-air structures will be shrouded in shadows unless special lighting is installed. These specialty fixtures can range from tree lights that are ingeniously concealed in the overhanging canopy, feature lights that highlight outdoor furniture, or underwater fountain lights that disperse illumination through the prism-like effect of water droplets.

Courtyard landscape design can play a pivotal role in establishing the theme of the landscape by creating a truly unique outdoor structure whose utility is equivalent to its aesthetic. For businesses and homeowners seeking to create a tangible link between the comforts of indoor living and the expansive sense of freedom that the outdoors brings, a professionally planned and constructed courtyard can be the defining point of the home living experience.