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Building Design for Sustainability Master´s Thesis 2021

Arnaud Baas

Home – Introduction – Research – CAses – Guidebook – Proposal – Reflections

The Communal Courtyard

TYPE 1: PUBLICLY ACCESSIBLE COURTYARD
  • The public openness allows the residents to meet people from the whole neighborhood.
  • The attractiveness can raise awareness about community living and bring interest to it.
  • The diversity of social settings on the whole courtyard is wider because with a public courtyard comes different programs and there is also public functions on the ground floor of the building.
  • The courtyard is overlooked from the living units so the residents are always aware of what is happening and it easily attracts them.
TYPE 2: COMMON ONLY COURTYARD
  • The residents are provided with an intimate outdoor space that they could use as their own private garden.
  • The intervention offers more freedom than in the type 1 as the whole courtyard is accessible without any border.
  • The whole courtyard can be considered as an extension of the common space.
  • The insecurity problem are minor as there isn’t any public accessibility.
  • The transition from the front common to the intimate back allows people to give each space different meanings (Alexander, et al., 1977, p610).
Home – Introduction – Research – CAses – Guidebook – Proposal – Reflections