Essays, drawings, plans, and over 200 black-and-white photographs document the courtyard housing in Los Angeles. The style, expressed in both grand and humble dwellings, was at its height in the 1920's and 1930's, but is still around to provide privacy and greenspace in the dense urban area. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

The courtyard house is one of the most enduring architectural forms, transcending regional, historical and cultural boundaries. Its balance of simple appropriate construction, environmental control and social and familial structures continues to engage architects and architectural historians. That the courtyard house is still relevant today is indicated through its ability to accommodate continual transformation without losing any of its formal integrity and cultural roots. This book presents a series of viewpoints on courtyard houses from different periods and in different regions around the world; from the Harem courtyards of the Topkapi Palace and the low-cost housing settlements of Protectorate Casablanca, to contemporary design strategies for courtyard houses in the arid Gulf region. Together, the essays illuminate issues of particular relevance in architectural, art historical, and conservation discourses today.

This book demonstrates, through discussions on sustainability and regional identity, and via a series of case studies, that the courtyard housing form has a future as well as a past.

Cultural sustainability is a very important aspect of the overall sustainability framework and is regarded as the ‘fourth pillar’ alongside the other three: environmental, economic, and social sustainability. However, the concept is neither fully explored, nor widely accepted or recognized. This book elicits the interplay of ‘nature-culture-architecture’ and theorizes the concept of ‘cultural sustainability’ and ‘culturally sustainable architecture.’ It identifies four key themes in Chinese philosophy: Harmony with Heaven, Harmony with Earth, Harmony with Humans, and Harmony with Self, along with Greek philosopher Aristotle’s physics: form, space, matter, and time, it sets them as criteria to evaluate the renewed and new courtyard housing projects constructed in China since the 1990s. Using an innovative architectural and social science approach, this book examines the political, economic, social, and spatial factors that affect cultural sustainability. Supported by a multiplicity of data including: field surveys, interviews with residents, architects, and planners, time diaries, drawings, photos, planning documents, observation notes, and real estate brochures, the book proposes new courtyard garden house design strategies that promote healthy communities and human care for one another, a concept that is universally applicable. The volume is a first opportunity to take a holistic view, to encompass eastern and western, tangible and intangible, cultures in the theorization of ‘cultural sustainability’ and ‘culturally sustainable architecture.’ It is a comprehensive contribution to architectural theory.

This volume deals with the various types of the courtyard house, which utilizes the courtyard as an intimate outdoor living space. A presentation of the courtyard as a building block of the city is followed by coverage of the complete spectrum of types—cluster, network, carpet, terraces, etc.

An inspiring architecture and interior design survey of the most stunning courtyard houses of the Asia-Pacific region. Courtyards have long played an important function in residential design, regulating light, shade, and the use of space. With thousands of years of tradition as inspiration, contemporary architects are now realizing courtyard living afresh. This lavish survey of twenty-five residences across the Asia-Pacific region features homes from Australia, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, India, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka. Structured by courtyard function, the book’s five chapters—on privacy; multigenerational living; sightlines; light and ventilation; and living with nature—are richly illustrated with photography and architectural illustrations showing courtyard positions within floor plans. Showcasing the unique lifestyle opportunities afforded by contemporary courtyard design, this is an inspirational resource for anyone interested in indoor–outdoor living.