courtyard houses
Homes with atriums
Courtyard houses are dwellings built around an open central space, with rooms facing inward rather than toward the street.
This architectural form appears across cultures—from ancient Roman atriums to traditional Chinese siheyuan to Spanish colonial patios.
The design offers privacy, climate control, and protected outdoor space: The courtyard house kept cool even in summer heat.
In urban planning, courtyard housing describes residential developments organized around shared outdoor areas.
- privacy screensBarriers limiting visual access
- walled gardenBounded outdoor growing space
- atriumRoofed central hall
- adobe wallsDried earth construction elements
- passive coolingTemperature control without power
central fountain · natural ventilation · peristyle · communal spaces · whitewashed walls · family compound · tiled roofs · shaded areas · stone masonry · symmetry · quadrangle · timber framing · enclosed · Mediterranean · hacienda · adobe · patio · traditional
courtyard housesrow houses
Adjoining homes sharing side walls
townhouses · terraced houses · shotgun houses · ranch houses · brownstones