Middleyard is a modern single-story house located in Trofa, Portugal, designed in 2022 by Limit Studio.

Description
The plot ? rectangular and slender ? is surrounded by tall buildings on the sides and back, which encloses it, and by the road on the front side.
Right from the start, the intention was to have a one-story house, which, due to its urban context, would always be surrounded by the refereed taller buildings.
The interior and exterior privacy of the house was, therefore, one of the main challenges of this project.
A private outdoor space was also intended. However, instead of the common backyard, the approach was to provide a middleyard, in order to achieve some privacy in the outdoor space. The house was designed in a ?C? shape, turning its back to the surroundings and
facing an interior patio that opens only in an unobstructed area.
The roof reaches its highest point along the middleyard, closing it from any visual axes of the higher surrounding buildings, while stabilising a reference to the typical roofs of the region.
In addition to the issue of privacy, which gave the project its first form, the sun exposure of the house and the patio itself was also taken into account. The patio is located exactly in the centre of the house, facing south-east. In the rooms that have contact with the courtyard, windows are opened strategically, on the faces oriented to south, a large continuous glass panel is opened, which corresponds to the windows of the...