Light and air

Courtyard

Timelesscentral courtyard · patio (Spanish) · riad (Arabic) · chowk (Hindi)

housing school hospital office public building

An open-air space surrounded by the rooms of the house or building. From the Roman domus to the Chinese siheyuan, many cultures have organized life around it.

Solves

What it solves

It brings light, air and rain to the center of the plan without opening the house to the street. In the tropics, surrounded by verandas with eaves, it gives shade, ventilation and a cool place to be.

Today

Proportion the courtyard so that it receives useful sun and shade at the same time, with verandas and trees along its edges. Open rooms on two sides so the air crosses toward it.

Common mistake

Roofing it over or filling it with hard, unshaded paving, which turns it into an oven or just another room.

Tomorrow

The courtyard is the first outdoor play space for many children. With a tree, soil and visible rainwater it also becomes a place to learn about the climate and insects.

Where it comes from

1Roman domus Rome and the Mediterranean, Antiquity
It organized the house around an open space with a rain pool and, further in, a garden with columns.
2Riad Al-Andalus and Morocco, since the Islamic caliphates
A house closed to the street with a four-part inner garden, a fountain at the center and rooms facing the courtyard.
3Haveli India and Pakistan, peak with the Mughal Empire
Its courtyard (chowk) works as a light and ventilation well and is the center of family life and celebrations.
4Costa Rican adobe house Santo Domingo de Heredia, Costa Rica, late 19th century
Some adobe houses were organized with wide inner verandas around a central courtyard.

Masters

Charles Correa Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalaya Museum, Ahmedabad, India, 1963
He organizes the museum in pavilions around courtyards open to the sky, with trees and shaded walkways. The courtyard gives light and air to a building without windows.
Hassan Fathy New Gourna, Luxor, Egypt, 1946
He designs the village houses around enclosed courtyards taken from local tradition. He builds with adobe and vaults together with the community itself.

Appears in the routes

Sources

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Diagrams and texts by LDB Arquitectura. They are shared under the CC BY 4.0 license, which allows them to be used and adapted with credit to the source.