Courtyard House Research Articles

Tipologías arquitectónicas y estilos de vida: paisajes del habitar

En este ensayo nos centramos en la forma en que se relaciona íntimamente una tipología arquitectónica y urbana con paisajes del habitar, según prácticas y sus espacialidades. Se trata del caso de la casa a patio, dominante en el histórico segundo ensanche de Montevideo. En primer lugar realizamos una breve presentación. Después, nos focalizamos en el tipo y sus implicaciones históricas y antropológicas, para luego caracterizar una sensibilidad urbana a partir de entornos y ambientes del habitar. Por último, retomamos la discusión sobre lo moderno en clave contemporánea, buscando compartir una reflexión abierta a la multiplicidad de oportunidades que nos presenta el caso.

Research and Application on Smart Courtyard Monitoring System

Residential safety has always been a basic need for people’s lives. In the vast suburbs and villages of China, quantities of courtyard houses are distributed, and the level of security monitoring is related to the people’s security and happiness. This study takes the characteristics of the human body with a large aspect ratio into account. By improving the structure of the Faster-RCNN network, a method for enhancing human body features is designed to enhance the network’s ability to recognize the human body, and covers various human postures such as standing and lying down, and eventually improves the accuracy of the original human body recognition by 7%. In addition, this study designs and deploys a complete set of real-time monitoring system, which continuously saves images when detecting human intrusion, and sends alarm messages to the user’s mobile phone WeChat in real time, which meets the real-time and adds convenience. The actual deployment shows that the system can find the target within 120 milliseconds when the intruder enters the sight and send out alarm messages to meet the realtime design requirements.

Study on Passive Ventilation and Cooling Strategies for Cold Lanes and Courtyard Houses—A Case Study of Rural Traditional Village in Shaanxi, China

China’s research on and specific implementation of energy saving for buildings are mainly concentrated in urban areas, but according to 2016 statistics, the rural population accounts for 42.65% of the total population, so rural housing has considerable energy-saving potential. However, the degree of attention to the energy consumption of rural houses needs to be improved. Regarding the research on and implementation of passive energy-saving strategies for residences, compared with centralized urban high-rise residences, rural residences mainly have independent courtyards, with a flexible layout and easier transformation. In this study, a system that uses the common cold lanes in traditional villages and buildings’ exterior walls was constructed, and the indoor spaces of courtyard buildings in southern Shaanxi were completely passively cooled in summer. This system can be completely separated from the supply of artificial energy by relying on the accumulation and buoyancy effects of air in patios and cold lanes and the hot-pressure ventilation in buildings to cool the buildings and greatly improve indoor ventilation efficiency. As the building is ventilated and cooled, the air wall formed in the system can effectively prevent direct contact between the outdoor and indoor temperatures and reduce the impact of thermal wall radiation on the interior. In previous studies on the passive design of courtyard houses, scholars considered the effect of thermal wall radiation on indoor temperature in simulations. Therefore, in this study, we also separately calculated whether to consider the difference between the situation with and without wall heat radiation (WHR) when simulating thermal conversion. The final results show that when the cooling system was adopted, the annual cooling load of the whole building was 4786.494 kW·h without WHR. However, with WHR, the cooling load reduction was 2989.128 kW·h, a difference of 1797.336 kW·h.

The Dilemma of Saudi Arabian Homes in Riyadh

The courtyard form of the traditional Arab house responded to both climate and the culture of its inhabitants. Islamic values, as well as socioeconomic factors, played crucial roles in the design. However, the mid-20th century marked the beginning of Saudi Arabia’s first rapid economic growth as a result of the discovery of oil; which dramatically increased the wealth and prosperity of the population, and resulted in new lifestyles. This period witnessed the introduction of the grid layout street pattern and the detached villa house. This type became the prevalent style in Saudi Arabia, the central province, and Riyadh in particular. While the traditional courtyard house more than satisfied cultural needs, increasingly it was viewed inappropriate for affluent 21st-century lifestyles. Yet this research confirmed that the villa style is creating fundamental problems for Saudi families. The theoretical framework is set in sustainability theory, and investigates the principles of home through human needs, place, and house. The methodology uses a survey strategy with questionnaires, interviews, and building analysis to determine which aspects of home are satisfied by each type. The dilemma is that Saudi families will not return to the courtyard type because it does not meet important requirements of status; whereas the villa type does not meet significant criteria such as privacy. The context is increasing climatic temperatures, which are making both types increasingly uncomfortable. This study highlights the need for a specific contemporary home style that would satisfy 21st-century aspirations, respect Islamic culture, and respond to changing climate.

The CCTV Headquarters—Horizontal Skyscraper or Vertical Courtyard? Anomalies of Beijing Architecture, Urbanism, and Globalisation

The CCTV Headquarters—Horizontal Skyscraper or Vertical Courtyard? Anomalies of Beijing Architecture, Urbanism, and Globalisation

The Republican Houses of the Roman Colonies in Ancient Magna Graecia. Cultural Exchange from a Western Perspective

This article presents an analysis that is being carried out within the framework of the ‘Tetrastylon project’ (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellowship). This project is designed to create the scientific basis for the identification and definition of a new type of Roman domus. This typological item is the result of the hybridisation of a house scheme drawn from the Greek and Roman conceptions of housing. In the recent decades, some studies have found a particular type of Roman house in different parts of the Empire. The structural scheme of this domus joins, in the first place, the developmental concept of the Greek dwelling with the use of the Roman atrium as the central distribution area of the house. As a result of this cultural symbiosis, it is possible to observe Roman distribution areas within housing built following Greek structural conceptions and the combination of very different architectural influences between both cultures. The house, tentatively termed ‘the tetrastyle courtyard house’, has been observed in different Roman cities with a Greek past, but in different geographical contexts and chronologies. This type of house, with its variants, has not been sufficiently analysed in the Roman domestic architecture studies. This article will present different examples of this type of house within the territorial context of ancient Magna Graecia under the influence of the Roman dominion. This approach will show the same exchanges between the Greeks and the Romans in the East, but from the western perspective and at an earlier chronological stage.

A Cultural Heritage Framework for Preserving Qatari Vernacular Domestic Architecture

Architecture and urbanism in the Arabian Gulf region, and specifically in the State of Qatar, offer many scenes to observe the loss of urban identity and cultural heritage in the various components of the built environment, including residential architecture. Many people attribute this to rapid development in globalization and the adoption of Western standardization in planning and design practice. Conversely, in the field of architectural sociology, scholars argue that socio-cultural factors such as privacy, gender segregation, and hospitality are the important variables for determining the spatial form of Islamic residential architecture. This research study aims to investigate the degree to which the shaping of the spatial form in a sample of Qatari vernacular courtyard houses embeds socio-cultural factors based on morphological analysis of human behavior and activities in domestic space. The study utilizes space syntax analysis to explore the spatial connectivity of four Qatari vernacular courtyard houses related to domestic functions as a realization of inhabitants’ system of activities and a manifestation of culture as a way of life. The study’s findings shed light on the spatial formation of Qatari vernacular courtyard houses as a realization of socio-cultural imperatives, thus reflecting the essence of societal formation in the domestic architecture of old Qatari settlements. The insights from this research study can help to contribute to a cultural heritage-framework for the preservation of distinctive Qatari Vernacular Residential Architecture based on the analytical criteria of housing spatial form, socio-cultural factors, and the interrelation between both.

Courtyard as Tropical Hot Humid Passive Design Strategy: Case Study of Indonesian Contemporary Houses in Surabaya Indonesia

Courtyard in building contributes to indoor thermal environment. Courtyard element is commonly applied as passive cooling strategy in the design of boarding house in Indonesia. Courtyard has a potential aspect of being micro climate-modifier to reduce indoor air temperature during the day. This paper discusses the effects of courtyards on indoor thermal environment in Indonesian contemporary boarding houses using field measurement. This paper focuses on the indoor air temperature reduction of 5 courtyard houses design of the contemporary boarding house in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia. The field experiment method was used for two physical environmental variables: the air temperature and relative humidity. Each sensor was shaded with a paper cups wrapped with the aluminum foil to prevent the effect of direct thermal radiation. Measurement was taken for approximately 23 days continuously in each building. The results of the measurement exposed that the form and enclosure element is pivotal in its thermal environment design consideration for tropical climate. Meanwhile, utilizing ventilation blocks as the primary enclosure also help reduce air temperature in hot-humid climates. The results showed that the indoor air temperatures in the courtyard and surrounding room were approximately 0.3-1.7°C lower than the outdoor air temperature during daytime. During night-time, indoor air temperatures inside swing to 0.8-1.9°C higher than the outdoor. The results of the thermal environment evaluation revealed that indoor air temperatures can be categorized as a neutral temperature of the measurement period. Therefore, the application of courtyards in contemporary boarding houses have proven as possible means of achieving sufficient cooling effects through full-day ventilation strategy, and showed improved performance when combined with ventilated blocks.

Conception of open spaces- A Case of Delhi Courtyard Houses

Concerns for the future of our environment, with regards to climate change, scarcity of resources, population growth, and globalization are growing, we need alternative solutions as to how can we reduce the negative impact of all the above on the planet while catering the needs of the mass. Only recently has there been debates if or not vernacular and traditional aspects of architecture can be the key to the required change. Courtyards and open spaces are one of the attributes of vernacular architecture that needs to be discussed in the above context. The importance of these spaces had already been proven for different climatic conditions. However, there is a need to justify this kind of open space typology in the lights of contemporary architecture of a metropolitan city like Delhi which is having a diverse urban fabric, a high rate of influx, and also cultural diversification. Given that the most common and relatable architectural typology is the dwelling, and it is subjected to a rapid transformation concerning its built as well as use. The following case takes into consideration the residential open spaces of Delhi through a comparative study of residential courtyard spaces of Delhi hence, the paper tries to form a conception of open spaces in the residential typology of Delhi post-independence and hence, tries to study the dwellings of the same time dating from the 1950s till date it also provides the reader an insight to the reasoning of flattening of built forms that have emerged in today’s era, despite the heterogeneity of people and what are the possible solutions to this through the understanding of courtyard spaces and use its functional benefits like comfort and a sense of belongingness.

TRADITIONAL VALUES VERSUS MODEM CONVENIENCES: AN ANALYSIS OF TRADITIONAL COURTYARD AND CONTEMPORARY HOUSE DESIGN TRENDS IN LAHORE

Courtyard house, as one of oldest forms of housing tradition, is a remarkable form of residential architecture due to its attributes of naturally climate controlled spaces, spaces of peace and seclusion and as a central nucleus (a social space) around which domestic life revolves. In Lahore, visible transformation of housing trends has continued after independence (1947) with several emerging issues of growing population, rapid densification and exponentially rising land value. By 1960s and 70s, bungalow style of housing with a flavor of modernism inspired middle and upper middle income people to adopt modern life style. All these facts impelled courtyard style of housing into complete disuse. Researchers and designers are certainly aware of the need to cope with local climatic and energy crisis problems in residential architecture to enhance physical comfort of inhabitants which needs to analyze design and performance patterns of traditional courtyard houses, in comparison to modern detached houses. This research paper, through analysis of two local case studies in Lahore, explores how a courtyard house can be revived with minimal interventions to achieve climatically responsive houses that would be address adequately the climatic concerns. Findings on evolution and aspects of housing typologies (courtyard house, detached and semidetached houses), followed by comparative case studies analysis, and field investigation through questionnaire and interviews supplement research methodology for this paper.

Archaeology and History of Eighth-Century Judah

Archaeology and History of Eighth-Century Judah

The Erber: tracing global trade through a London building

AbstractThrough a case-study of one significant courtyard house owned by the Drapers’ Company and known as ‘The Erber’, this article argues that mercantile livery companies supported London's growing centrality within an expanding network of trade through the use and development of corporate properties. The micro-history at the heart of this article reveals that the ‘everyday’ built environment of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century London was shaped not just by the city elite. Also relevant to that process were the different sorts of tenants of the Drapers’ Company, who benefited from the expansion at all levels of London's mercantile activity. The trickle-down effects of global mercantilism affected spaces small and large. The investigation of the Erber highlights the domestic implications of global commercial expansion.

User's Perception of the Relevance of Courtyard Designs in a Modern Context: A case of Traditional Pol Houses, Ahmedabad

Courtyard designs were prevalent in India and around the world for ages because of their utility as a climate modifier, a space for social interaction, and a connecting area for the entire house. The globalization and liberalization of India in 1990 has changed people's lifestyles and resulted in courtyard designs losing their significance. They prefer living in modern housing based on western architecture. However, there is a considerable population still residing in courtyard houses. This study explores the benefits of the traditional courtyard houses and their relevance in the present context. The survey questionnaire aims to know the user's perceptions of the courtyard design, such as spatial, environmental, and behavioral aspects. The data is analyzed across various parameters of courtyard design, such as thermal comfort, natural light, visual connection, privacy, security, activities during the day and different seasons, etc. The results show that people like courtyards because they provide thermal performance during peak summer, natural light, privacy, security, visual connection, space for daily and seasonal activities. This paper recommends designs for courtyards based on the literature review and the analysis of the user's perception.

Assessment of solar shading performance of courtyard houses in desert climate of Kashan, Iran

ABSTRACT This paper concentrates on the effect of courtyard parameters on the shading function of courtyard houses in hot desert climates; BWh based on Köppen climate classification. The ultimate goal is to optimize the designing pattern for a courtyard regarding orientation, dimensions, and proportions, to enhance the shading performance and improve outdoor thermal comfort. For this purpose, 10 historical courtyard houses were selected with geometrical properties and different orientations from the hot desert climate of Kashan in Iran. The three-dimensional numerical model was applied, by Design Builder, to simulate sunlit and shaded areas. A field measurement was conducted on the shading performance of Borujerdi courtyard house in Kashan. A validation study was performed on the numerical model using the physical data and a close agreement was achieved. The shading index that was previously suggested by authors was employed based on hourly average temperature to investigate the correlations between the index and courtyard’s orientation and geometrical properties. Results illustrate that the courtyard’s design alternatives, particularly length-to-width ratio and height, have influential impacts on shading performance. Finally, some design recommendations for courtyard houses in hot desert regions were extracted to enhance the shading performance and increase the thermal comfort.

Shilinyuan New Courtyard-Garden Housing in Suzhou: Residents’ Experiences of the Redevelopment

Set within the theoretical framework of cultural sustainability, this in-depth case study examines the Shilinyuan (meaning “Lion Grove Courtyard-Garden Housing”) built in the old city of Suzhou, China, in 2000. It is a modern interpretation of southern Chinese vernacular houses, with private and semi-public outdoor spaces, and a communal Central Garden. The estate is in proximity to the famous Lion Grove Garden, and in walking distance to the renowned Humble Administrator’s Garden; both of which are UNESCO World Cultural Heritage sites. The Shilinyuan project won the Lu Ban Award, a national award to high-quality construction projects by Chinese Ministry of Housing. Through an onsite survey, in-depth interviews with residents, key planner and architect, and the author’s observations, the study finds that this project is only culturally sustainable to some extent, the private courtyard-gardens are often too small for family activities. The communal Central Garden has somewhat functioned as a social and cultural activity space, and living close to city gardens is a major benefit for residents’ cultural activities. The findings may have implications for courtyard housing redevelopment in China and cohousing development elsewhere. The study finally suggests two new courtyard-garden housing systems that may have wider application.

De los bocetos al collage La representación paradójica del vacío en la arquitectura de Mies van der Rohe

<p>¿Cómo representar el vacío cuando es invisible y carece de límites, y a su vez, sin embargo, constituye<br />el fundamento de toda una arquitectura? Esta paradoja fundacional de la modernidad tuvo en Mies<br />van der Rohe la expresión radical de una búsqueda intuitiva a través de unos dibujos probatorios<br />expresados en los bocetos de sus proyectos de casas patio de finales de los años veinte en Europa,<br />bocetos que culminaron en su obra más sorprendente y lograda: el Pabellón de Barcelona; y en los<br />años siguientes, en los collages de su primer proyecto en América, la casa Resor. Un recorrido por ellos<br />revelará por sí mismo la ambición visionaria desarrollada por el arquitecto y las dificultades que hubo<br />para su materialización; paradójicamente, ésta es una de las cualidades de las cuales carece dicho vacío<br />ilimitado, ingrávido e inconcluso, y el cual su arquitectura “construyó” de forma aporética haciendo de<br />él otro material más del proyecto, cuando no el más importante.</p>

A simulation-based model for courtyard housing design based on adaptive thermal comfort

Courtyards are anecdotally known for their distinctive bioclimatic efficiency, particularly in hot-arid climates. However, this building typology is not always preferred in modern constructions. The aim of this study is to perform a parametric study to enhance design efficiency and provide simple-to-use rules for designing courtyard houses in subtropical desert climates. Numerical models were developed using the Grasshopper tool together with the environmental plugins Ladybug and Honeybee in order to enhance the design efficiency of courtyards. The paper investigates the impact on the thermal comfort of the main design variables, including the orientation, geometry, materials, window sizes, and courtyard eccentricity. In particular, the parametric study compares over 8600 possible alternatives. Results show how an enhanced design can significantly increase the thermal comfort in courtyard houses in a hot arid climate. The automatically generated solutions are also compared with design practices and literature rules-of-thumb of successful courtyards. Finally, a set of equations is provided to support the design of courtyard houses in hot and dry climates.

Building and repairing historic timber-framed courtyard houses: Corralas in Madrid (1747–1898)

ABSTRACT Timber-framed houses with a courtyard and construction set around it, believed first to be built in the seventeenth century, became the most common collective housing for factory workers in the late nineteenth century in Madrid, and also spread to Central and South America. However, their origin, development, the dating of the over 400 preserved, and how the design of the construction detailing is related to common structural decay and damage, remain unknown. The research reveals that structural failures led to the demolition of many buildings, and that new floors were added to many since the late eighteenth century. Today, poor conservation, and inappropriate renovations and intervention techniques prevent us from ascertaining whether they retain their basic substrate, the layout of dwellings and timber structures. A detailed study of the most relevant types shows the original structures discovered, later additions studied, faulty design assessment, and damage inspected.

Brothers

First published in Fiction Monthly (Xiaoshuo Yuebao) in 2018, “Brothers” is a story about the search for identity and kinship in a city working at breakneck speed to “clean up” and redevelop. Dai Shanchuan arrives in Beijing convinced that there is another “him” somewhere in the city—not a brother or a lookalike, but a long-lost version of himself. As he wanders the alleys looking for this other Dai Shanchuan, Beijing is being radically transformed around him: traditional courtyard houses are bulldozed and extreme restrictions placed on the activity of informal migrant workers. Unable to go about business as usual, and bored out of their minds, the workers have split into factions and engage in increasingly violent battles to pass the time.

Greenery buildings Significance of courtyard houses design in the Arab world

Serious and sober architecture comes from the concept that evolves through time and across generations, and shows its sustainability through innovation and business which is becoming a crucial move along with the product at the time and place of occurrence. Aspirations of the community, cultural identity and urban context are linked to the environment in which they arise. To some extent and up to the middle of the Twentieth Century, the architecture of each country and region reflected the heritage and environment of the residents who dwelled in that part of the area. With the effect of globalization and misuse of the “copy-paste” method, ready-deformed designs have disintegrated architecture in societies. This is inherited through a primitive thought fully dependent on the least efforts of designing. The consequences of this behavior have produced buildings without identity which do not meet the requirements of sustainable development. This article highlights the best practices by ensuring a sustainable environmental community in Bahrain and shows that this has been tackling the issue from top to bottom, by setting a sustainable strategy for the country and introducing a guideline of green building code. However, lack of building regulations is obvious and needs to be revised in favorites of greenery and saving lands to allow housing developers to build on the edge of the land plot without a setback from three sides of the land. This will have a flexible solution in designing a court-yard type which demonstrated a successful solution for the need of families as well as saving energy. Environmental best practices are led by the private sector, and some good examples of design have the quality of life. Creative designs can be appreciated when they reflect and inspire the past for the need of the present and looking forward to the future.