The geometry of single and multi-family courtyard housing

This chapter does not merely romanticize traditional architecture or advocate the accepting of all its principles. It is an attempt to bring to life again those principles which proved their effectiveness with regard to climatic and social aspects that characterize local residential environments, such as the existence of the courtyard as an essential architectural element within each housing unit. The assumption is ‘that true identity is the result of a living culture and that the imposition of external values leads only to the loss of identity with unsustainable results’ (Lycett 1996, p. 46). In this the courtyard is seen as the simple defining element.