ABSTRACT
The courtyard house, one of the most enduring architectural achievements made in the history of urbanism, was created in Mesopotamia by the Sumerians during the third millennium BC. Although there is substantial literature on the origins of the courtyard house (mainly conference proceedings and journal papers), the author’s interest is in the mystical quality of the courtyard house. This is a difficult area to explain by attempting objective analysis, historical review or epistemological speculations. The author is also aware that personal reflections do not do justice to the intellectual and ontological motivations
behind the evolution of the courtyard house itself. Of all building types, however, the courtyard house allows the spectator to be simultaneously connected to the land and the sky through their emotions. These indigenous buildings are part of the reality of everyday places and therefore require little further justification beyond their existential role in many Middle Eastern cities. As Karl Popper notes, such vernacular buildings are part of objective knowledge’ and exist as social and cultural icons requiring little rational explanation (Popper 1992, pp. 64-60).
