Although having a garden is on most people's property wish lists, outdoor space isn't always available. Yet these innovative homes prove that exterior space isn't essential when creating a gorgeous garden.
From a modern Californian residence with a sycamore tree punctuating its floors, walls and ceilings, to an incredible multi-level home that boasts three distinctive indoor gardens, click or scroll for majestic properties that give new meaning to indoor-outdoor living...
With the knowledge that, according to studies, indoor air quality is often worse than outdoor air quality, the team at Creative Architects CTA in Vietnam were keen to design a house that could 'breathe' by itself.
Plus, the land on which the home sits features one of the last remaining gardens in Biên Hòa city. Located next to the Đồng Nai River, the garden needed to be retained as much as possible.
A house was devised as eight separate living spaces, surrounded by standard walls. These rooms meet in a communal space, enclosed by three 'breathing walls'.
Formed from hollow bricks, arranged so they enable fresh air circulation and allow natural light to enter the house, these walls act as a protection shell. Their design helps purify the air, filter out pollution and provide excellent ventilation, without compromising on privacy.
The second protective layer is an indoor garden, which is essentially an extension of the lush garden outside the home. It was installed not only to add visual impact but to counter the “negative impact of the external environment on the living space inside,” the architects told Archdaily.
As for rooms, the communal spaces are located on the ground floor, while the bedrooms and a shared study are upstairs. The study is open to a void that's connected to the garden below.
Additionally, skylights help to bring extra natural light and fresh air into the home and, when combined with the trees and plants in the garden, ensure the house remains cool all year round.
Cleverly, the walls have been left unfinished, which helps them to be "airy, not absorb heat and dry quickly after rain", which is perfect for the tropical climate of Vietnam. What's more, the house doesn't require any fans, air-conditioning or artificial lighting during the day.
This stunning, energy-efficient home was built into the rugged hillside of an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Glamorganshire, UK, in December 2020. Positioned on a sloping site and nestled among mature pine trees, it captures incredible views of the Welsh countryside, all the way to the coast.
Designed by James Stroud of LOYN+CO Architects, the modern masterpiece replaced a dwelling that didn't make the most of the surrounding scenery. The homeowners gave James a comprehensive brief. Keen gardeners, they asked for a practical home that would be suitable all year round and one that would allow them to bring the outside in.
Working with the topography of the site, the house sits at the top of a steeply sloping driveway. The front door then leads into a soaring atrium, with a designer staircase and an amazing, three-storey indoor garden.
Supported by an irrigation system, the garden required 20 tonnes of soil, which were lifted in before the windows were installed. The homeowners then spent a lot of time planting the area up, creating an indoor jungle that's the ultimate focal feature.
No matter what floor you're on, you can take in the trees and foliage. The couple can also partake in gardening all year round, even when the weather is bad, tending to plants that wouldn’t survive outside in this part of the UK.
The staircase is flanked by a cork wall and a preserved moss wall, designed to absorb noise, insulate the property and naturally purify the air.
Aptly named, The Garden House was designed for one very important reason. Architect Christos Pavlou explains that cities around the world have a major impact on the environment, with studies showing that they "account for more than 70% of the global CO2 emissions".
With this impressive house, Christos aimed to show the potential there is for urban gardens and for the creation of microclimates that "could improve the living conditions within cities and slow global warming".
While many homes are separated from their surroundings with fences or hedges, this property isn't. The house features two rectangular cubes, with a green courtyard in between, blurring the lines between inside and out.
The main garden (pictured) is also physically connected to the public green space that stretches the full width of the house and is used by everyone in the neighbourhood.
60% of the ground floor has been planted and was specially crafted to attract bees since three-quarters of the world’s food crops rely on these pollinators.
The garden is ultimately the home’s focal feature and all of the living spaces are positioned around it. Every room benefits from views of the garden and there’s even a separate planted area below the stairs – a space that would otherwise be redundant.
A 79-foot-long glazed sliding door softly separates the courtyard from the living spaces, enabling the whole house to be opened up whenever the homeowners want. Or, as Christos explains it, “when landscape becomes concept, there are no walls”.
There's even a lovely terrace on the first floor, complete with a living roof. Stepping stones allow the owners to explore this outdoor garden, while taking in views of the green space below.
The owners of this home bought a building plot directly on a busy road, calling in the team at HYLA Architects to design them a new residence that could be slotted in between the adjoining buildings, without impacting their privacy.
To address this, the designers opted to construct all of the main spaces around an enchanting courtyard garden.
On the ground floor, a double-height living room and dining space open up to a stunning living courtyard, thanks to tall sliding and folding glass doors.
The indoor garden, which was crafted by Green Forest Landscape, boasts two pools, a koi pond and a towering tree, all of which sit beneath a glass roof and an anodized aluminium trellis.
These two roof elements protect the interior below, sheltering it from the rain, shading it from the sun, aiding with privacy and enabling plenty of ventilation to circulate through the home.
Of course, the lush greenery that decorates the courtyard garden also provides an instant wow factor and further helps to purify the home's air.
The courtyard isn't the only indoor garden in this home, either. The master bathroom also benefits from a gorgeous planted area, which allows the homeowners to enjoy a shower while feeling like they could be bathing in the depths of the rainforest.
Principle architect, Han Loke Kwang, hopes Vertical Oasis will help to redefine how a typical house in Singapore can relate to its environment.
The owners of this plot in Aichi, Japan, wanted a new home where they could start a garden. However, the site's limited size and the fact that it is sandwiched between other homes, made the task rather difficult for the team at Suppose Design Office. To get around this, the architects instead decided to install a 'garden room' within the property itself.
Completed in 2009, the interior garden surrounds the entire living area and features stones, trees and flowerbeds. In treating the property’s habitable spaces and garden equally, Suppose Design Office was able to form a relationship between inside and out, while simultaneously creating a Zen-like environment where the homeowners can enjoy gardening all year round.
As the architects put it, rather than designing a home that would begin to “grow stale” as soon as it was completed, they instead created a space that is constantly colourful and ever-changing.
Clever roof windows draw natural light inside, providing the gardens with everything they need to thrive, while sliding glass doors allow the owners to step inside the green spaces whenever the need arises.
It isn’t just the main living areas that have been brought to life with greenery, either. The garden extends to the property’s private quarters. The bathroom, for example, can only be reached by walking along a small path that crosses the garden.
Chief architect, Makoto Tanijiri, hopes that House in Moriyama will allow words like 'garden' and 'landscape' to take on new and varied meanings, "bringing vibrant and beautiful scenery into the interior of homes as well".
At first glance, Wall House appears fortress-like, with minimal openings that appear to create a barrier between the inside and outside worlds. However, this couldn't be further from the truth.
When commissioned to design the private family home, AGi Architects planned the structure from the inside out, replacing spaces that are usually reserved for walls with glass and greenery. The finished result is beyond imagination...
The ultra-modern property can be found in Khaldiya, Kuwait, and consists of a protective outer shell that comes to life inside, thanks to a series of atrium gardens.
On the ground floor, the open-plan living area is surrounded by lush greenery, with trees that extend upwards to an open-air terrace.
This image fully highlights the beauty of one of the main indoor gardens, with its glass walls creating an almost indoor gallery, where the homeowners can sit and enjoy the space from the nearby sitting area. Many of the home's bedrooms contain their own private oases, too.
An upper-floor common room extends out onto a series of discreet balconies, making this the perfect spot for entertaining guests on cool evenings. The terraces are all protected by perforated screens that provide shade, while all the greenery inside is free to grow and climb across the different levels of the home.
Known as 66MRN, this Zen-inspired house was designed to maximise views of nature, while seamlessly blending the interior and exterior spaces together, with the use of floor-to-ceiling glass doors and abundant greenery.
Designed by ONG&ONG of Singapore, the house was built in two sections, one with high concrete walls and the other clad in granite and aluminium screens.
The front ‘block’ is home to the social spaces, including the living room and formal dining area, while the rear ‘block’ houses the kitchen.
However, the focal point of the house can be found at its centre. This open-air atrium boasts a stunning reflective pool and delicate trees, which add softness to the heavy granite that coats the walls.
At almost 10 feet wide, the void soars up from the ground floor to the third floor, ensuring cross-ventilation on every level and drawing plenty of natural light inside.
Glass picture windows on the first floor, where many of the bedrooms are located, allow the owners to enjoy glimpses of the courtyard from almost every corner of the house.
What’s more, there are numerous terraces and open decks, each lined with artificial grass to further blur the lines between the indoor and outdoor spaces. This rooftop deck even features planted trees, creating a tranquil oasis in the heart of bustling Singapore.
Built to withstand Brazil's tropical weather, Casa MCNY consists of an open-plan living space with retractable, perforated doors that can be pushed back to create an indoor-outdoor experience like no other.
Designed by MF+ Arquitectos for a family of four, the house was not only designed to suit their daily needs but also integrated into the surrounding environment.
Internally, there's an open-plan lounge and dining area, a kitchen and four bedrooms, all of which privately connect to the great outdoors. Yet the highlight of this cutting-edge property has to be this dreamy indoor garden, which spans the length of the living room.
The garden sits behind sliding glass doors, allowing the occupants to observe it from a distance, or step inside to tend to the plants. The area boasts leafy tropical foliage that perfectly complements the property’s primary building material: wood.
The rooms also feature elements of natural stone, concrete and Corten steel, which weathers to a beautiful rusty orange shade over time.
Heightening the indoor-outdoor experience, the kitchen transforms into a gourmet balcony, from which the family can enjoy entertaining guests and dining under the stars. A second terrace extends out onto a walk-in swimming pool.
For AGi Architects, the inspiration for this incredible home was achieving an outside space that could be used 365 days a year. Kuwait has a "hyper-arid desert climate", according to the Climate Change Knowledge Portal, which made the task challenging to say the least.
The architects decided to divide the external parts of the home up, creating spaces that could be used at different hours of the day and times of the year, where various plants could thrive. The result? Three separate gardens, positioned on three different floors.
With a seamless indoor-outdoor layout, the home flows from internal rooms to garden spaces. On the ground floor lies the Wet Garden, complete with native plants, a pool and fountains.
The gorgeous garden is surrounded by the main social spaces of the house, allowing the greenery to be enjoyed even during the hottest months of the year. The walls of these living areas are covered in white ceramic tiles, which reflect light and create natural illumination.
The Summer Garden is located on the coldest floor of the home, some 13 feet below street level. The architects explain that the garden is protected by the soil’s thermal mass and the "projected shadows" of the house. It boasts a large pool of water, which helps with evapotranspiration and allows fresh air to rise to the floors above.
The third garden lies on the roof. A "perforated skin" of anodized aluminium covers the Winter Garden, reducing direct solar radiation and helping the homeowners to retain privacy while using this semi-outdoor space.
The gardens are connected by a series of exterior staircases and the same aluminium privacy screen that covers the roof garden decorates some of the exterior walls, allowing sunlight to filter inside and providing shelter for the indoor vegetation.
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