A courtyard in a house can have many benefits. Courtyards are a great way to improve the functionality of a home. The benefits of a courtyard in a house are significant in the tropics. This situation is because of the function they perform in cooling a house. They are, however, suitable for any home in general.
What Is A Courtyard?
A courtyard is an uncovered outdoor area that is open to the sky. It primarily has walls of a larger building or buildings surrounding it. Usually, a courtyard is in the middle of the house or building.
Because of their central location, a courtyard can become an attractive outdoor room in the middle of your house. They provide more privacy than other outdoor spaces like patios, decks, verandas and terraces.
Courtyards in houses have been around for centuries. They were popular in both homes and buildings and are still common in several parts of the world. Historically, the courtyard in a house could serve many functions, including gardening, cooking and even sleeping.
Today, courtyards are not as popular in homes in some regions. They are more prevalent in commercial and institutional buildings like offices, shopping areas and universities. A courtyard is a great gathering and recreational space.
However, the popularity of a courtyard in a house is increasing. As people look for more ways to interact with outdoor spaces, they use a courtyard to improve the interior rooms of their homes.
What Is A Courtyard House?
A courtyard house is typically a house where its main rooms surround and open unto a central courtyard. Hence, the courtyard is a significant element in the home.
These types of houses were common throughout history across the world. They were primarily larger homes.
The Benefits Of A Courtyard In A House
The benefits a courtyard provide include increasing natural ventilation and daylight in the middle of a house. They are also great for introducing an outdoor area to the interior of your home. Hence, increasing your interaction with nature like a garden, trees, water feature, pool or fountain.
If you plan to build a new home or renovation, here are some of the fantastic benefits you might enjoy from adding a courtyard to your dream house.
1. Natural Ventilation
When designing a house in a tropical region, natural ventilation is one of the primary concerns. It is best to maximise cross-ventilation or the wind passing through your home or building. To achieve this, it is best when the distance the wind has to travel in a room is not too far.
However, in a home, it is normal for breezes to travel for several rooms before reaching the other side.
Positioning a courtyard in the middle of the house can help cut down this distance. It creates an outdoor space in a floor plan layout that may have been too deep. Therefore, a courtyard in the middle of a house creates shorter distances for the wind to travel.
Image: Griyoase | Andyrahman Architect
They also provide an area for warm air to escape the home. Warm air from rooms adjoining the courtyard has a place to escape through and out of the house. Hence, creating a cooler indoor temperature.
Image: Manjadi-The House of the Bead Tree | NO Architects Designers And Social Artists
In the Manjadi-The House of the Bead Tree, NO Architects Designers and Social Artists use the courtyard in two ways. First, it allows warm rising air to flow out through the courtyard. However, when the wind is coming from the other direction, it scoops the breeze and directs it into the house.
2. Natural Light
Having a large home on a small site can sometimes force you into creating a dense floor plan layout. This situation can cause some parts of the house to be far from windows and doors in perimeter walls. Hence, they can be far from natural light sources.
Photo: Quang Dam | Umbrella House by AD+studio
Courtyards can shed some light on those interior spaces. In addition, a courtyard can often provide natural, indirect light into internal rooms. Tall, narrow courtyards may prevent direct sunlight from entering a room because of the sun’s angle. However, sunlight bouncing off the courtyard walls can reach lower interior rooms as indirect light. So, you get the benefits of natural light without the heat associated with direct sunlight.
A slatted or lattice structure like a pergola can also cover a courtyard. One of the benefits this has is to help screen or filter direct sunlight entering the courtyard and home. An example of this is the Umbrella House by AD+studio. This house in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, allows strips of natural light through.
However, courtyards can potentially bring additional direct sunlight and heat into your home, depending on the time.
3. Connection With Nature
We, as human beings, have a psychological connection with nature. Studies show that seeing natural elements like plants, trees, and water can have tremendous health benefits. This is one of the other benefits of a courtyard.
A courtyard in the middle of your house is a great way to introduce these natural elements into interior rooms that may not necessarily have access. Courtyards would typically incorporate a garden because they have access to sunlight and rain. Gardens could have small plants or large trees, depending on the size of the courtyard.
Many courtyards also carry water features. These water features include a pond our fountain. In addition, some courtyards also incorporate a swimming pool in them. The sound and sight water is often calming and creates an enjoyable atmosphere. Hence, using a water feature in the middle of your home can enhance those interior rooms in the centre of the house.
Manjadi-The House of the Bead Tree has a garden and a water feature in its courtyard. This garden has a mix of potted plants and some planted in the ground. It as has a tree that reaches up to the upper floor. In addition, there is a pond. The architects, NO Architects Designers and Social Artists use these elements to promote passive cooling. It creates a cool family space away from the harsh tropical weather in Kollam, India.
Photo: Redz Photography | Manjadi-The House of the Bead Tree by NO Architects Designers and Social Artists
Photo: Redz Photography | Manjadi-The House of the Bead Tree by NO Architects Designers and Social Artists
Incorporating natural elements in your courtyard and connecting them with the interior rooms is beneficial. Rooms on multiple floor levels of your home can interact with trees and other aspects of nature.
4. Indoor-Outdoor Connection
Photo: Quang Dam | Half Roof House by AD+studio
One of the other benefits of a courtyard in the middle of a house is it creates a strong connection between your interior and exterior spaces.
A central courtyard connects you with nature, as previously mentioned, but it also creates an open, outdoor space in the middle of your house. This arrangement can make the interior of your home feel more spacious and inviting.
A courtyard separates interior rooms and connects them with excellent outdoor spaces.
The rooms adjoining the courtyard can open entirely onto it using large doors and window openings. These type of wide openings creates a seamless between indoors and outdoors.
In the Half Roof House by AD+studio, they are large doors that separate a dining area from the courtyard. However, on the other side of the courtyard, a small eating area and the kitchen opens directly onto it.
5. Additional Room
Since a courtyard often has partially or wholly surrounding rooms, it is easy to feel more like a room itself.
You can even make this space a functioning room within your home. Functions of this room could include dining, lounging or a play area for the children. If it is in a central location of your home, it could be a safe outdoor area for children to play under the watchful eye of an adult from the surrounding rooms.
This extra room may also benefit from lower construction costs since it will not have a roof or floor. However, it may require a few additional structural walls and exterior windows and doors.
“Griyoase” House in Indonesia uses its courtyard to become like an oasis in the middle of the home. It becomes a fantastic place to relax and play.
Photo: Mansyur Hasan | Griyoase | Andyrahman Architect
In multi-family homes or apartments, a courtyard can create a great space for social interaction. This interaction between different families or even different branches of an extended family is good for healthy, social relationships.
A natural environment is an ideal setting for such activities.
Photo: KHOO Guo Jie | Envelope House | ASOLIDPLAN
In Envelope House by ASOLIDPLAN, the courtyard becomes such a place. The house is for a multigenerational family. Each part of the family has their private areas. However, the staircase passes through the courtyard, creating a place where family members connect through chance encounters.
The courtyard in this house has small plants and trees. It also has a water feature.
6. Private Outdoor Space
Another benefit of a courtyard is that it can offer greater privacy than other outdoor spaces.
Patios are popular in some regions and are great for admiring the view. However, they can offer little privacy according to where they are in your home.
The house I live in has a patio facing the street. This arrangement is typical for many homes here. However, I hardly use it since everyone passing by on the busy road, and the occasional family of green monkeys has a clear view of me on my patio.
I suspect I would feel more comfortable using a private space like a courtyard. However, it means I would lose the views the patio currently has. Therefore, having both options of view and privacy is probably best.
7. Secured Exterior Area
A courtyard is also an excellent way to create an outdoor space without worrying about intruders.
This issue is essential for rooms on the ground floor. I would feel more comfortable having an outdoor space to open my doors without the fear of someone off the street walking in.
Again, this is a concern I have with my current patio. Not only does it have no privacy, but anyone can walk in. That same family of monkeys, who actually uses that patio more than I do, could also make their way into my house.
However, an open to sky courtyard will not stop those monkeys from coming in. They would happily climb up on the roof, like they do now, and come down into a courtyard. A determined intruder would probably do the same.
Hence, installing a framing structure like a pergola would probably help add more security. An example of this was seen in the Umbrella House previously mentioned.
In addition, though a courtyard usually does not have a roof, some homeowners prefer to cover them.
To maximise natural light entering, they use glass for roofing the courtyard.
A glass roof over a courtyard or atrium will allow plenty of daylight to flood interior spaces while adding more security.
However, glass can also allow heat to enter your courtyard and your home by extension. Hence, it is critical to provide vents for the warm air to escape, so it does not build up.
Photo: KHOO Guo Jie | Envelope House | ASOLIDPLAN
The courtyard in Envelope House has glass skylights with vents. This arrangement ensures the security of the home. However, it provides the plants, trees and interior rooms below with natural light while encouraging natural ventilation.
Conclusion
A courtyard could be a great addition to the middle of your tropical home. It is a great way to increase natural ventilation and light in your interior rooms.
Central courtyards can connect rooms and to nature. These can incorporate plants, trees, gardens, fountains, ponds, pools and other water features.
They are also more private and secure than patios and other outdoor spaces. However, they do not offer the opportunity for views as patios and decks do.
Courtyards create a functional, outdoor environment within your home that is pleasant, safe, and a joy to be in.
Featured Image: Manjadi House by NO Architects Designers and Social Artists
Photographer: Redz Photography