The Garden as a Living Room: Rethinking Outdoor Domesticity

In today’s world, the boundary between interior and exterior is dissolving. The garden is no longer a decorative backdrop — it has become a living room without walls, where architecture and nature coexist seamlessly.

At Skab, we see gardens as spaces for daily life — not as separate landscapes, but as extensions of the home that respond to climate, light, material, and emotion.

From Outdoor Space to Living Space

Traditional gardens often served as visual pleasure — something to look at. But modern living calls for spaces that are experienced, not just observed.

Designing a garden as a living room means creating a place where one can read, gather, eat, or simply be — surrounded by textures, scents, and sounds that change with time.

Design Principles: Living with Nature

1. Scale and Comfort

The success of an outdoor space depends on its human scale — proportions that make people feel sheltered, connected, and at ease. Pergolas, walls, or plant groupings can define space without enclosing it.

2. Material Authenticity

Natural stone, textured surfaces, and warm-toned materials create tactile continuity between interior and exterior. We believe in designing with honesty — allowing materials to age, weather, and tell their story.

3. Planting as Architecture

Plants are not decoration; they are spatial elements that define edges, frame views, and modulate light. Mediterranean species — olive, lavender, rosemary — bring both resilience and sensory richness.

4. The Role of Light and Shadow

Outdoor rooms come alive through rhythm — the way sunlight filters through leaves, the coolness of shade in summer, or the glow of evening light. This temporal choreography gives the garden its emotional depth.

Why It Matters

Designing outdoor domestic spaces is about more than aesthetics — it’s about well-being. As urban life accelerates, gardens serve as sanctuaries of stillness and sensory balance.

They reconnect us to the cycles of nature — to sound, air, and time — offering what interiors often cannot: presence.

Our Approach at Skab

At Skab, every project begins with the question:

How can this garden become part of daily life?

Our process integrates:

• Spatial Flow: Designing outdoor spaces that extend the rhythm of the home.

• Material Harmony: Blurring the line between interior finishes and landscape textures.

• Ecological Sensibility: Using native plants and passive climate strategies.

• Human Experience: Focusing on comfort, intimacy, and sensory engagement.

We design gardens to be lived in — not merely seen.

Conclusion

A garden designed as a living room invites presence. It turns architecture outward and welcomes nature inward.

At Skab, we believe outdoor spaces should nurture both people and place — spaces that evolve with time, weather, and memory.

Because the most meaningful landscapes are not just visited — they are lived.