Designed in 2014 by Kister Architects, this inspiring courtyard house / church is located in Melbourne, Australia.

Description
The Courtyard House encompasses both a new build and a conversion to the modest St Saviour?s Church in inner-city Collingwood. With its dense composite of residential conversions and developments within mixed-use industria, this context provided an architectural opportunity to rethink the family home while incorporating a former place of worship.
The owner-architect?s brief was to create a private sanctuary for a family of five within this urban hub. Implicit in this was the versatile utilisation of the church space.
As a primary response, the approach was to maximise the site footprint and northern orientation to create a seamless integration of old and new, interior and landscape. High perimeter walls create an immediate sense of enclosure and proportionate scale to the church and nearby buildings. Where a curved plane of concrete in this facade peels away along the street front, a concealed entry opens into a vast outdoor courtyard, dominated by a 17-metre lap pool and concrete canopy above.
The church rises to the right, while at ground level it is sensitively connected to the new construct via a glass link. This is a pivotal point; more than a physical connection, it is a symbolic link between old and new, a subtle transition into the former place of worship.
Similarly connecting the old and new, the circular courtyard is ...