Tucked within an elevated, green pocket of Sydney’s East, the Edgecliff Courtyard Transformation by Noble Architecture turns a cramped and disconnected outdoor space into a layered courtyard for everyday living and entertaining.
Working with the site’s north-facing aspect, the design combines a refined Modern Mediterranean aesthetic with resilient Australian planting, reclaimed materials, and soft architectural forms.
The result is a garden that feels generous without requiring a larger footprint.
Photography above by Tom Ferguson Photography.
The original courtyard offered little usable space and felt awkwardly arranged.
A new layout uses diagonal paving and curved rendered walls to open up the footprint and create a clearer flow through the garden.
The walls sweep toward a custom banquette, drawing movement into the space while creating a sheltered place to sit beneath the established tree canopy.
Perhaps the most effective move is also one of the simplest.
All of the original site pavers were reclaimed and relaid on a 45-degree diagonal grid rather than being discarded and replaced.
Turning the existing material on an angle stretches the visual boundaries of the courtyard while retaining the aged patina of the original paving.
The result gives the garden a new geometry without erasing its history.
New masonry was chosen with the same attention to material use.
Lutyens long-format bricks contain 45–50% locally sourced hemp and are solar cured rather than kiln fired, reducing their embodied carbon.
The bricks continue from the paving into a custom barbecue niche, forming the benchtop and front fascia while concealing gas bottle storage within the masonry.
Planting works vertically as well as across the ground plane.
Stainless steel tension wires support native Bower Vine, while creeping fig and variegated creeping fig soften the edges of the masonry.
Fast-growing climbers help the garden develop a more established, time-worn quality in a relatively short period, giving the new work some of the depth normally associated with an older garden.
The retained vegetation also plays an important role in making the courtyard feel secluded.
An established Evergreen Ash provides shade over the lounge and banquette, while Camellia sasanqua hedging and Weeping Figs help screen neighboring properties.
At the center of the garden, a restored lion-head fountain brings back a piece of its history while adding the sound of moving water, helping to soften the surrounding city noise.
The project shows how much can be achieved by reconsidering what is already there.
Reusing every existing paver, retaining established trees, and introducing materials with lower embodied carbon allowed Noble Architecture to transform the courtyard without treating everything existing as something to be removed.
The space feels larger, greener, and more useful, but its history remains visible in the materials and details that were given a second life.
Noble Architecture is a Sydney-based architecture, interiors, and landscape practice creating refined, highly crafted spaces that respond to their surroundings and the way people live.
Led by Director Katherine Burdett, the practice specializes in bespoke residential architecture, renovations, heritage properties, and contemporary projects, alongside boutique hospitality, wellness, cultural, and landscape work.
With an integrated approach to architecture, interiors, and landscape, Noble Architecture focuses on thoughtful spatial planning, materiality, sustainability, and creating spaces that are both highly considered and personal to their setting.
