The New Collective Courtyards

Abstract

The New Collective Courtyards looks into the traditional courtyard type in contemporary urban settings and aims to experiment with more sustainable models of urban co-living that enhance the interrelation between dwellers. The experiment is conducted by developing three different schemes on the same site, dealing with the low-, medium-, and high-density housing respectively.

The courtyard type is one of the many recurring paradigms, emerging across various geographies and cultures. Though, in the last two centuries, its use has diminished. Today the courtyard house experiences a resurgence aided by a growing desire to bring the outdoors in. What comes with it is the inherent collective value of the courtyard.

Existing urban housing typologies, including the detached single-family house, the townhouse, and the apartment building, have historically been used as a way to spatially organize the idea of private property as an individual right. The one-entrance system ensures that the house is perfectly individualized and that there is a clear threshold between the private and the public domain. This also means that people are isolated and severed from families and neighbors. The contemporary task of residential architecture is, on the contrary, to re-establish connections among people, reinforce a sense of trust and solidarity among dwellers, and promote a more sustainable way of living.

Learning from the courtyard type, residual spaces around private properties can be integrated into the center of a house, making it a communal outdoor space, so that it can continue its role as a transitional space, but also take the center stage in people’s everyday life. Three kinds of courtyards are paired with three existing housing typologies in America to generate new models of co-living for three different densities. Each of the three courtyard houses uses the condensed cores to free up the rest of the space and makes both the indoor and outdoor spaces functional. In this way, the courtyards become an extension of the interior space, and begin to not only separate but at the same time connect dwellers.