Courtyards: an old idea that still works

It cools

In a hot climate a courtyard is a climate machine. Its walls shade each other, so the yard stays cooler than the street. At night, cool air settles in it, and by morning the building around it is fresher. Planting, water and paving in pale stone help. See also Designing for the desert.

It lights and ventilates

Rooms that open onto a courtyard get daylight from the side as well as the street, and air can pass through. This is why deep buildings, such as hospitals and schools, so often have courtyards: they bring light and air to the middle.

In a hot climate a courtyard is a climate machine.

It makes a private outdoor room

A courtyard is outdoors and yet is sheltered. It gives people a place to sit, eat, talk or simply look at the sky, protected from wind, noise and passers-by. At Al Salam Mosque, an olive-tree courtyard is where the community gathers around the prayer hall. At The Orchard School, the orchard court is where classrooms open for play and lessons.

It organises the plan

A courtyard is also a plan. Rooms are arranged around it, with covered walks that link them, so people can move through the building in the shade and in the rain. It gives a clear centre and easy orientation. At Al Hikma Hospital, a courtyard garden at the heart helps visitors understand the building. See also Designing a hospital that heals.

It can be small or large

A courtyard can be a few metres across, as in a house, or a large public garden, as in a campus. What matters is proportion: high enough walls to shade, wide enough to feel generous, and an opening to the sky.

What makes a courtyard good

• Shade and sun in balance. Shaded in the heat, sunny in winter.
• Planting and water. Trees, climbers and a small fountain or pool, used carefully.
• Comfortable materials. Pale, cool paving, seats, warm timber.
• Easy access. Openings, steps and routes that make it part of daily life.
• Safety and privacy. Overlooked enough to feel safe, private enough to feel calm.

An old idea, made new

We do not copy traditional courtyards. We use the idea, a protected room under the sky, in new buildings and with new materials. It remains one of the best answers to heat, light and the human wish for a place to be.

Our projects are concept designs, and the images on our site are visualisations (see our Disclaimers).

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