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Internal courtyards form one of the most important design elements in the Arab Islamic house, playing an important role in the lives of Islamic individuals and families in many aspects, including socially, functionally, and environmentally. The success of this multi-functionality lies in the courtyard's construction style and open aspect towards the interior of the house, yet there is currently a lack of studies examining the impacts of inner courtyard privacy in Karbala's houses. This research thus aimed to investigate and analyse the most important characteristics of the architectural formation of these inner courtyards based on their emergence in early civilizations, with a focus on Sumerian, Assyrian and Babylonian houses, compared to their use in the Islamic civilization in Karbala. This comparison is used identify the extent of congruence and the changes in the privacy applications of courtyard houses over time. The research followed a descriptive and analytical approach to examine the house models used in early civilizations and Islamic houses in Karbala, then subjected key samples to qualitative measurement to test the developed hypothesis, which stated that the characteristics of the architectural character of the interior courtyard of the Arab Islamic house were developed to meet social, cultural and religious requirements, which are identical with environmental requirements and thus form an extension of its origins in early civilizations. Further efforts were made to identify the extent to which the vocabulary of the characteristics of the architectural formation of the interior courtyard are now achieved in Islamic house, as extracted from the architectural studies. This study should thus lead to the development of a clearer perception of the privacy functions of internal courtyards in Arab houses and the most important factors contributing to the development of its architectural features. The research conclusions suggest that the same effects were achieved in both samples, supporting the conclusion that the spatial factors, site specificity, and the environment play the main roles in the development of an inner courtyard, and thus in determining its architectural character. The local environmental factors have the clearest impact, however, while social, cultural and religious factors offer variable pressures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Without orthogonality and without visible axiality, in appearance the garden of Algiers of the Ottoman period does not follow any geometry, it presents itself on a sloping ground with grass, flowers and fruit trees following the logic of the cultivator who has respected the movement of the sun, the cultivation techniques and the irrigation system. It seems like a natural landscape whose vegetable, ornamental and medicinal plants, coexist by means of highly developed cultivation techniques. The absence of apparent geometry certainly gives a natural character to the garden and a great feeling of pleasure. However, it is on the basis of a circular and spiral geometry that a spatial hierarchy of the garden is ordered to give a spiritual and mystical meaning to the garden. Thus, it is from the forest towards the orchard, then towards the courtyard and finally towards the patio that the passage from nature to culture is felt. This garden, described as picturesque by historians, travelers and painters of the modern era, tells of the love of man for his creator, a relationship that the poets and painters of medieval and modern Islamic times have admirably represented. This paper contains a cross-reading of the medieval Islamic painting and of the architecture of the Ottoman Garden of Algiers, which represent depictions of the love of man towards his creator through the geometry of the spiral, a geometry that is both cultural and natural. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unit transformation in public housing provided by the Indonesian government has occurred constantly over time and is expected today. Unfortunately, the transformation process rarely involves housing experts, thereby frequently leading to environmental quality decreasing, such as sacrificing a house’s thermal comfort. Previous research has recommended courtyards to be included as (part of) the additional room program in the transformation. This article aims to examine the dimension and form of a courtyard which is optimal for maintaining wind flow inside the house. The research was conducted using a Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) simulation. The simulated unit models have developed versions of the initial design (Type 36). The courtyard that is placed in the middle of the back area of a house is based on the previous research conclusion which states such a location is one of the best spots for inducing wind inside the house. The simulation was run twice, with 2 slightly different sized courtyards, but in different positions to figure out the most effective one. In summary, it can be concluded that the transverse courtyard is more effective in maintaining appropriate levels of wind movement inside the house. Such a courtyard may not need to be wide; hence it will be beneficial as the residents can use the area for other purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Living in the city, but living in the green, means combining the benefits of comfort and at the same time those arising from the presence of nature. In a situation in which cities are increasingly polluted - Turin is one of the Italian cities in which this problem is most felt - careful planning of the greenhousing combination seems to be the most correct current answer and a challenge that many designers are facing by transforming the conventional penthouses of condominiums into urban villas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses the adverse acoustic phenomena occurring in the semi-open interiors (courtyards, yards) covered with a glass roof. Particularly negative is the reverberation noise, which leads to the degradation of the utility functions of the resulting spaces. It involves the drastically reducing the intelligibility of speech, loss of natural sounding of music, problems with the sound system, as well as disturbances in the voice alarm system operation. The work refers to historic interiors, where preservation requirements significantly limit the possibility to reduce reverberation noise by means of sound-absorbing materials of general use. The work describes the concept of the use of micro-perforated foil which is a modern, technologically advanced sound-absorbing material. Because of its high acoustical efficiency and negligible effect on the expression of architectural design, micro-perforated foil is particularly suitable for the purpose in question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper intents to present some of our results concerning a CAD based application which can provide a simple architectural procedure for the refurbishment of existing and abandoned courtyards in the historical center of Timisoara, Romania. Starting from the Local Urbanism Plan Map, this application could import the AutoCAD quotes and, based on these elements, could automatically add architectural elements, especially green areas, or other architectural objects, without using sophisticated architectural programs. This paper aims to present some simple ideas and directions for designers and investors for an enriched life in historical central areas and to create viable and achievable solutions integrated in the new and retrofitting construction sites. It is a "first aid kit" for the refurbishment of existing buildings. As we mention, the whole project is not only an urban/architectural one, but it wants to prove also that by using state of the art CAD techniques and actual technical solutions, many existing "grey" surfaces could be given back to the "green state", in order to improve our everyday life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fabric of the urban tissue of the city centre of Timisoara, completely restructured after the Austrian Conquest of 1716, is based on rectangular blocks made of buildings (both public and private houses) with inner courtyards. This pattern was maintained in most of the historical districts exceeding the centre until the Jugendstil period. The recent undertaking to transform all the streets in the city centre in pedestrian alleys raises the necessity to enrich the existing urban spaces (three squares, rectangular streets with 10-13 m width and continuous fronts) with these interior courtyards, until now neglected, thus offering intimate and varied sceneries. The reuse of basements and ground floors already realized facilitated the implementation of new functions in the historical centre (libraries, exhibition spaces, cafeterias, restaurants, clubs, offices, etc.). This process gives a totally new life and high potential for the core of the city where the dwellings have the tendencies to disappear. The paper proposes to complete the functional diversity of the city centre through the revival of the interior courtyards, aiming to increase the attractiveness back to the historical centre instead of having it focused on large shopping malls. The starting point of the investigation was on one side the historical study and on the other the documentation of contemporary examples. Afterwards we analyzed some of the abandoned and damaged interior courtyards from Timisoara. The paper presents viable and achievable solutions, well integrated in the construction site, for three case studies. These were chosen after analyzing the existing needs and the potential of the considered courtyards, not only for clients but especially for the community. The proposals intend to become models for the diversification of the public spaces in the city centre of Timisoara in a contemporary and attractive manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research is based on the authors' previously performed researches on the landscape space quality in the largescale residential areas in the Baltic Sea region and also on the researches about solutions for residential outdoor territory planning for the 21st century residential areas and their courtyards. Applying the comparative method in the research, several residential outdoor spaces were analysed according to their compositional planning solutions and their elements in Scandinavian countries. Consequently, the research studies the relation between landscape spatial structure and modern development tendencies of the large-scale residential areas in scale of Scandinavian countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A rare studied Chinese courtyard type has been found in the hilly area of Eastern Fujian and Southern Zhejiang, China, which is characterized by a central main building surrounded by courtyard houses on four sides. The Fourfold Courtyard House is made possible by a few distinguishing structure features: 'Multiple Purlins", 'Multiple Floors", 'Multiple Bays", and "Wood framing Overhang Gable". The type exhibits various forms as results of four basic ways of space development: 'Side Extension", 'Front and Rear Extension", 'Four -way Extension" and "combined Complex". The flexibility of incremental growth of space lies in its structural capacity, of which the 'Wood framing Overhang Gable" and 'Penthouse" play the critical roi es. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]