The Courtyard Condominium Duplex

Perhaps the best of all worlds for the homebuyer is plenty of house with lots of indoor outdoor living. And for the residential developer the best of all worlds are house designs with great curb appeal, which incorporate cost effective construction, and which pack the most amenities onto the least possible lot size. What I term the courtyard condominium duplex seems to succeed on both counts. Courtyard in the sense of a private outdoor space - an 'outdoor room' to borrow architectural theorist Christopher Alexander's term. Condominium because the geometry is better served by a pooled, shared maintenance. And duplex as there are two units in one building the difference being that where in the traditional duplex units are mirrored side to side, in this case they are mirrored front to back. A version of this concept shown below offers four bed, five bath, two story homes of around 3,800 sq ft on lots of around 7,000 sq ft, making for a density of around 6 units per acre. The design affords spacious, comfortable living in the central duplex building by use of the VEGO panel system to minimize costs. After the main building of VEGO panels is assembled, wood decking and walls follow to create an enclosed courtyard, carport, and deck above.

The previous images are more schematic coming directly from the Sketchup CAD system. Below are images produced with an AI system intended to give a better sense of the look and feel. Visual renderings made by AI systems are still in their early stages and not quite up to the precision one would like. Nevertheless they are a time and cost effective means of giving a good first impression of what the finished home might look like.

As presented there is a carport for 3 full size vehicles and around 300 sq ft of storage / mechanicals space. VRT is a big fan of hydronics and high velocity HVAC systems. The hope is to be able to have a system exclusively using heat pumps for both air conditioning and heating - and heating of everything including domestic hot water supply, the hot tub, the pool, and the house. VRT reasons that in the summer season the heat of the house can be transferred to the hot tub thereby cooling the one while heating the other. Conversely in the winter the pool is 'idled' and only the hot tub requires heating. This should be no problem in Florida and the Southern states, but might take some finessing with a gas boiler as you push north. The present design is meant to convey the essence of the courtyard duplex concept. If it is favorably received by the subdivision developer community a proper hydronic study will be made to determine both feasibility and required mechanical utility space. Finally note that the glass door wall width is around 40 ft. It is envisioned to use a steel beam and columns, suitably dimensioned, to safely span this opening.