PERFORMANCE

OF INDIAN
RESIDENTIAL
COURTYARDS
MH 7311 DISSERTATION 2015

311314566004
S. LYDIA
03 Sem, 2 yr, M. Arch ( Gen)
MEASI Academy of Architecture.
COURTYARDS
 A court or courtyard is an enclosed area, often a space enclosed by a building that is open
to the sky.
 As one of the most primordial forms of architecture, “courtyard styles” may be relevant
for any type of building be it residential, commercial, institutional or industrial.
 The earliest known courtyard houses were built in Iran and China and date as far back as
3000 BC.
 Courtyards have historically been used for many purposes including cooking, sleeping,
working, playing, gardening, and even places to keep animals.
 Before courtyards, open fires were kept burning in a central place within a home, with
only a small hole in the ceiling overhead to allow smoke to escape.
 Over time, these small openings were enlarged and eventually led to the development of
the centralized open courtyard we know today.
 Historically courtyards have been most popular in residential architecture all over the
world.
 Courtyard homes have been designed and built throughout the world with many variations.
 Courtyard homes are more prevalent in temperate climates, as an open central court can
be an important aid to cooling the house in warm weather.
 However, courtyard houses have been found in harsher climates as well for centuries.
 The comforts offered by a courtyard — air, light, privacy, security, and tranquility—are
properties nearly universally desired in human housing.
COURTYARDS
 Over the past decades, architectural historians and theorists have constantly debated
about the origin of the courtyard form but the precise evolutionary path of the
courtyard house still remains undetermined.
 Generally, the basic courtyard house type may be described as one which has rooms
surrounding an open-to-sky court and may be essentially associated with the arid
climates of Middle Eastern countries.
 However, the form remains equally prevalent in all the countries and all climatic
regions of the world.
COURTYARD FORMS
 The courtyard plan is not fixed. Though the basic courtyard form of dwelling is
rectangular or cubic in shape, it may be round or curvilinear too.
 A block with a punctured hole in the middle as a breathing space within the confined
box is the general courtyard type.
 However, this form may be and has been modified to adapt to the topography, site
restrictions, building orientation and functions to create new formal shapes such as
the L, U, H, T, V or Y.
 The size and scale of a courtyard can vary from very intimate to quite spacious. In
every case, the courtyard creates a wonderful frame of light and air.
COURTYARDS
 Finally, to understand the different
parts of the courtyard house type
the following elements of a “basic
court house” are analyzed.
 Though it must be understood that
these elements have been modified
and adapted in different regions and
cultures, they are usually
continuously present in all court
houses across the globe.
 The court
 The arcade or verandah
 The rooms
 The roof
COURTYARD HOUSES
COURTYARDS
 Courtyard housing has a Long history in India.
 Cultural tradition is one of the major elements determining the courtyard housing form in
India.
 The courtyard housing forms in these two areas have some similar characteristics because
they share the similar cultural background - Buddhism is the major religion. The earliest
courtyard house was built in India and China, around 3000 BC.
 Beijing courtyard housing dates back to 800 years ago, which is the typical courtyard
housing type in China.
 The typical home of Beijing is an extremely well guarded place.
 Every family forms a Little community in itself that reflects the social structure of ancient
China.
 Indian courtyard housing implies its cultural elements and the housing form responds to
the climate.
 The philosophy of these courtyard houses influenced the later urban courtyard house in
other countries of Asia.
COURTYARDS
TERRITORIAL FACTORS :
 Rectangle shape surrounding by high walls or buildings
 Narrow chamber or doorway
 Inner and outer quarter
 Rich decoration on building surfaces
SOCIAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS :
 The courtyard provides a private place for family activities
 Privacy wall at the entrance gives secured privacy
 Courtyards reflect the residents' social status
CULTURAL FACTORS :
 Building type and site planning are determined by the VASTHU Mandala
 The courtyard is especially used by women
ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS :
 The size of Indian courtyard housing is small and deep.
INDIAN COURTYARD HOUSES
 The oriental concept of the
courtyard housing still determines
today the physical form of Indian
cities such as Jaisalmer.
 Located at the north of India, the
typical urban house of Jaisalmer is
attached to other houses on its
sides and at the back leaving only a
narrow facade with screened
openings exposed to the street.
 Houses are arranged in a linear
cluster.
 The streets are narrow and the
buildings are on a deep lot.
 The form and construction
techniques allow changes to be made
easily.
 This is a typical urban dwelling form
in the north of India.
INDIAN COURTYARD HOUSES
INDIAN COURTYARD HOUSES
BASIC COURTYARD SOCIAL- FORM
STREET LEVEL
 The courtyard dwelling stands in direct harmony with its surroundings and the street.
 Unlike the palaces in India, which somewhat followed the occidental model of solidity and
rigidity on the exterior, most of the Indian court houses have an interactive relationship with
the streets.
 We can note that in most of these houses, there is a platform or sitting space next to the
main entrance door.
 It is essentially this space that acts as a transitory space between the exterior and the interior
of the house – a space where the house activities spill out.
 This space is especially the domain of the men and the children in the family who are
allowed in traditional societies to maintain social interactions with the outside world and be
part of the street life.
 Usually the number of openings on the street side is limited since the private life of the
interior court, which is the female domain of the house, is highly guarded.
 Therefore, the daily peddlers, weavers, dyers, traveling artisans, barbers and so on are
usually restricted to this platform outside the house.
 Only traders selling items specific to the ladies use like different dress materials, fashion
accessories, tailors, utensil vendors and so on were allowed to enter the inner courtyard of
the house.
INDIAN COURTYARD HOUSES
BASIC COURTYARD SOCIAL- FORM
BUILDING LEVEL
 The building is designed with rooms enclosing the courtyard.
 The court itself symbolizes the female space in the house.
 The general square or rectangular plan is functionally divided into outer spaces
where males dominate and inner spaces where the females live.
 The usual height of the building is two to five floors, with an inward looking plan to
ensure privacy from neighbors.
 The courtyard is the central focus of the house which is enlivened by different daily
activities. The rooms around the court are used for various functions.
 Randhawa explains that, “The courtyard ordered other spaces by context in an
abode where space was not rigidly fixed but could be adaptable depending on the
time of day, season and exigency…It was the spatial, social and environmental
control center of the home” (p.31).
 Towards the exterior are living rooms where friends, neighbors or guests may be
entertained without giving them total access to the interiors.
INDIAN COURTYARD HOUSES
 The kitchen or bedrooms are placed towards the interior, in such a way that
the females can use the space on a daily basis without any hesitation or male
intervention.
 The inner court is an extension of the kitchen, prayer room, bedroom and
living area for the females in the house. They sit in and around the courtyard
and the arcades from morning to evening, cooking, washing, preparing food,
gossiping, knitting, taking naps, and supervising servants in the house.
 Randhawa points out that even in the loosely defined functional spaces there
exists a kind of informal code specifying such things such as which terraces in
the house can be used for sleeping in summer afternoons.
 There is also a demarcation of levels providing privacy for newly-weds.
Generally, the terraces also have an open shelter at one end to provide
protection if it suddenly starts raining in the night.
INDIAN COURTYARD HOUSES
BUILDING ELEMENT LEVEL
 Doors and windows in the courtyard house are important architectural elements which complete the aesthetics
and socio-climatic order and significance of the courtyard houses in India.
 The doors are elaborate decorative elements in practically all courtyard houses in India, irrespective of the
regional variation.
 Noble observes that in general the main door in all courtyard houses is usually offset in the home façade and
opens into an anteroom from which a largely unornamented doorway leads into the courtyard or house interior.
 Thus the main entrance is located in a manner that does not allow the outsider to directly gaze into the
courtyard.
 A similar philosophy guides the placement of windows in a courtyard house. Window openings of a room face
towards the courtyard or toward the street outside, though the number of such openings in the ground floor is
restricted.
 This inward view helps to provide privacy within the house with each opening behaving like a one-way mirror
that is screened from the exterior by the strategic positioning of curtains, jalis, bay windows and cradle
balconies called jharokhas or mashrabiyya.
 Especially in the western Indian havelis the jharokhas are very prominent features.
 Randhawa observes that these jharokhas provide private sitting areas above the street, catching the summer
breezes and winter sun.
 The jharokhas help in filtering diffused light into the room and effectively ventilating it. The rows of
cantilevered jharokhas also provide shade to the street below.
COURTYARDS – Literature Review
Courtyard houses: An overview
Swasti Sthapak and Abir Bandyopadhyay
Department of Architecture, National Institute of Technology, Raipur, Raipur, (CG) 492010, India.

 In old traditional residences, the courtyard was the focal point of the house.
 Most, if not all, rooms of the house had a direct connection with the courtyard.
 Courtyards served privacy purposes where they maximized interior relationships and openness while
keeping the outside separate.
 Not only were courtyards used as social family gathering spaces, they were also a source of air flow
and thermal comfort to the residence.
 Courtyard Houses have been most popular in residential architecture all over the world and in all
climatic regions.
 Courtyard can be square, rectangular, round or amorphous, generated by placement of rooms or
buildings around it.
 In hot arid climates such houses provide a greater measure of comfort. The courtyards supply light
and cool air to the rooms around it.
 Air circulation within this confined space relies largely on the proportions of the surrounding walls
and positioning of window openings in the surrounding rooms.
 Breeze and shading in the courtyard help in creating comfortable living conditions during day and
sleeping conditions during night.
 In this paper various attributes of courtyard houses are discussed. The degree of enclosure, the size
and orientation of courtyard in terms of the bioclimatic significance is discussed.
COURTYARDS – Literature Review
REGIONAL VARIATION IN COURTYARD FORM

 Haveli : The havelis of northern and north-western India are perhaps the most popular types of courtyard
houses in India whether in Gujarat, Rajasthan or Punjab.

 Wada : The wadas which were popularized as a form of residential architecture by the Marathas under the
patronage of Peshwas, in Maharashtra.

 Nalukettu : This typical residence form of Kerala is also known as tarawad. Nalukettu means a single
courtyard with four sides. The compact structure which is comprised of four blocks around a courtyard with
sloping tiled roofs on all sides.

 Chettinad: Typical residence of the Chettiar Brahmins of Tamil Nadu. The primary plan of this house is
elongated and rectangular in shape, similar to the havelis in the north. However, a basic difference in the
plans is the transparency in design of chettinads which allows uninterrupted views from front to the back
door.

 Rajbari: Courtyard houses of Bengal, Influenced by the Western architectural styles but also retaining the
traditional inward courtyard form.

 Badas: Courtyard houses of Chhattisgarh generally also having a rear court used for agricultural or
gardening purposes.
COURTYARDS – Literature Review
IMPLICATIONS OF COURTYARD

PSHYCHO – SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS

 The primary benefit of the courtyard is a result of its inward form, which provides a sense of
enclosure and privacy to the residents of the house.
 The court is the heart of the house, where different functions can take place during different parts
of the day. This “outdoor room” can be used as an extension of the kitchen during mornings or as an
extension of the living room during evenings to entertain guests.
 The court acts also as a space for interaction for all family members. Generally, all the rooms face
the courtyard, creating a direct relationship between the inside and outside.
 This arrangement encourages family members to use the courtyard as a group. Privacy is one of the
main concern of courtyard type dwellings. Therefore, in most of the courtyard houses the court is
visually secluded by screened or walled entrances.
 In places where the climate is conducive to outdoor activity, the parapet walls on the roofs are high
enough to provide a private sleeping area during the night. Besides the visual privacy provided by
the courtyard form, it also provides acoustical privacy.
 The courtyard house absorbs the noise of the house within itself. Also the surrounding rooms
provide a noise barrier between the inner heart of the house and the street outside. This helps in
providing a quieter and private outdoor space to enjoy.
COURTYARDS – Literature Review
IMPLICATIONS OF COURTYARD

CULTURAL IMPLICATIONS
 Use of more than one courtyard is found in many cases. This is usually to segregate the public and
private spaces within the house.
 The public domain - for the guests and the male members of the family.
 The inner court is more restricted to the family and is usually an outdoor space enjoyed by the female
members of the house.
 The courtyard planning decreases interior-exterior connections but increases interior connections;
they maximized interior relationships and openness while keeping the outside separate.
 Courtyards help to create an interior space while respecting privacy values of the culture by having
no exterior or street view from the courtyard itself.
ACCESSIBILITY AND CIRCULATION
 Courtyards generally function as locus in the house, connecting the different areas and functions
within the house.
 This emphasis on the use of the ground plane minimizes the requirements for stairs, which helps in
making the different parts of the house easily accessible by even those with limited mobility.
 The courts function successfully for the older generations in the house.
 The practical solution of courtyard design combines the advantages of compact design and easily
maintained living quarters. The courtyard design accommodates communal outdoor places for public
contact, encouraging those with mobility disabilities to enjoy the outdoors.
COURTYARDS – Literature Review
IMPLICATIONS OF COURTYARD
RELIGIOUS IMPLICATIONS

 The courtyard is both symbolically and religiously significant.

 This open-to-sky yet enclosed space within the surrounding walls of a house has been considered as a spatial
symbol of inwardness and femininity in the house.
 The courtyard may symbolize many things: the central focus of interest in the house; a concentration of
light, wind, sound and water; a private, safe and life-sustaining refuge.
 Courtyards have been accepted as a secular form in almost all the religions of the world. Most Hindu
courtyards are distinguished by the placement of a Tulasi (basil) plant which is watered and worshipped.
 The most universal religious application of the open courtyard is perhaps congregation for religious
festivals.
ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS

 Some financial benefits are closely associated with the courtyard form and construction.
 Courtyard house designs show efficiency in land use. when adjoining courtyard houses share walls, the cost
of construction is significantly reduced.
 The minimization of walls also leads to fewer surfaces for either heat gain or heat loss, which may help in
economizing the cooling load inside the house.
 Another financially beneficial aspect of the courtyard form is its generally flexible interior spaces. In
courtyard houses, each room can be modified into serving multiple purposes.
COURTYARDS – Literature Review
IMPLICATIONS OF COURTYARD

CLIMATIC IMPLICATIONS

 Courtyards have been generally referred to as a microclimate modifier in the house due to their ability to
mitigate high temperatures, channel breezes and adjust the degree of humidity.
 The properties of self-shading and thermal lag is used to reduce heat gain in courtyard houses by using the
right proportions and building materials.
 Not only courtyards serve the purpose of social family gathering spaces, they are also a source of air flow
and thermal comfort to the residence.
 The courtyard floor and surrounding walls are usually a good radiator of heat depending on the material
used.
 Thus, the courtyard acts like a cool air reservoir especially in hot-arid climates where clear sky conditions
favor the heat radiation property of surface materials.
 This helps in maintaining lower temperatures in the court and especially ground floor rooms. Use of light-
colored highly reflective surface materials in courts help to bring more daylight into surrounding rooms.
COURTYARDS – Literature Review
IMPLICATIONS OF COURTYARD

THERMAL IMPLICATIONS

 COURTYARD GEOMETRY
 Geometry of courtyard, the enclosure around it, and the orientation affects the thermal performance
of the courtyard. Orientation of the courtyard (or it’s thermal performance) is determined by the solar
orientation, Annual and Seasonal Thermal Variation.
 ASPECT RATIO

 SURFACE AREA TO VOLUME RATIO

COURTYARDS – Literature Review
IMPLICATIONS OF COURTYARD

THERMAL IMPLICATIONS

 SOLAR ACCESS AND SHADING

 The solar performance of courtyard depends upon solar access and shading achieved in
the courtyard. A shady courtyard in winter may turn up to an open courtyard in summer
due to change in altitude angle of sun.
 SOLAR SHADOW INDEX

 NATURAL VENTILATION
 STACK EFFECT
 CROSS VENTILATION
COURTYARDS – Literature Review
THERMAL PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT OF A VERNACULAR RESIDENCE IN THANJAVUR
REGION
Ar. M. Dhanasekaran, Ar. P. Jayasudha
Research Scholar, Department of Architecture,
Associate Prof., Department of Architecture,
Periyar Maniammai University, Vallam, Thanjavur.

INTRODUCTION
 Climate responsive buildings or solar passive buildings with advanced active systems seem to
be most appropriate and efficient solutions to this problem.
 The utilization of solar passive methods and techniques in modern buildings to achieve
thermal comfort allows the possibility of decreasing the dependence on fossil energy as much
as possible and realizes sustainability.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
 The purpose of this study is to identify and understand the solar passive techniques
adopted in the vernacular residences of Thanjavur region. So the study is carried out by
selecting, documenting and analyzing a case study example in one of the traditional
settlements in this region, and assessing their appropriateness in the present context
through a thermal performance analysis using ECOTECT 2011 simulation software.
COURTYARDS – Literature Review
DOCUMENTATION OF THE RESIDENCE
 Thanjavur is a traditional town which dates back to the 3rd century AD, and is located in
south- east part of India at 10°46'56.99″N latitude and 79°7'52.51″E longitude with an
elevation of 88m MSL.
 It is well known for its strong and long existing vernacular settlements.
 Rural vernacular settlements in Thanjavur region could be divided into two groups.
 One is the consciously planned settlements, which are community-based,
 the other one is the organically grown settlements which are occupation-based.
 Vernacular houses in this region had their origin from a humble single spaced rural hut, built
by the locals with the available knowledge of materials and techniques.
 Later on, due to the increasing needs and requirements, and also the exposure to various
applications of the material resources and technical skills, the residences have undergone
various changes and transformations at different stages of development.
SAMPLE
 200 yr old House
 Main Occupation of the house hold is AGRICULTURE.
 Orientation - NORTH SOUTH
 Facing – SOUTH
 Multiple Courtyard House
 Total Measurement – 14.3 m x 30.0 m
COURTYARDS – Literature Review

 Central Court The larger

One 5.4m x 6.4m
 Kitchen Court – 1.85 m x
2.2 m
 Service Courtyard – 3m x
3m
COURTYARDS –
Literature Review
COURTYARDS –
Literature Review
ANALYSIS

 The selected sample residence at

Melattur shows a moderately low
temperature mainly due to the compact
arrangement of spaces around the central
courtyard.
 The living spaces on the northern and
western side maintains a comparatively
lower temperature than the other
habitable spaces in the house, mainly due
to the presence of movement passage
(thazhvaram) around the court which acts
as a buffer zone in between the courtyard
and the living space.
 Though the size of the courtyard (5.4m x
6.4m) is slightly big (14% to the plinth
area of the dwelling), the projected
eaves prevents the entry of direct heat
into the living space.
 The openings aligned along the axis
facilitate air movement into the spaces.
Also the depth of the courtyard (0.6m)
dissipates most of the incident heat thus
facilitates low internal temperature.
COURTYARDS – Literature Review
COURTYARDS
 Courtyards have a greater impact on the thermal performance of the residences. It is an
excellent thermal regulator in many ways.
 Courtyards play a significant role in the moderation of the climate in the hot summer seasons,
and provide comfortable living conditions for the families.
 The central courtyard acts as a light well, as well as an air shaft, bringing both daylight and
air circulation into the rooms around it (Dili, AS et al, 2010).
 Due to the incident solar radiation in the courtyard, the air in the courtyard becomes warmer
and rises up. To replace it, cool air from the ground level flows through the louvered
openings of the room, thus producing the air flow. During the night, the process is reversed.
 As the warm roof surface gets cooled by convection and radiation, a stage is reached when its
surface temperature equals the dry bulb temperature of the ambient air. If the roof surfaces
are sloped towards an internal courtyard, the cooled air sinks into the court, and enters the
living space through the low level openings, and leaves through the higher level openings
(Meir, I. A et al 1995, Anupama Sharma et al, 2003).
 The passage around the courtyard with proper light, temperature and air flow, acts as the
space for household activities. It acts as a buffer space to filter the light to the living area.
 The vertical elements (columns & Pillars) located along the edge of the thinnai and the edge
of the courtyards reduce the heat gain by the spaces, by dissipating the heat back to the
atmosphere.
  The courtyard is the source of lighting
and ventilation, and makes the house
climatically responsive.
 The courtyard aligned along the

CONCLUSION linear axis, and the minimum openings

ease the air flow through the building,
and ventilate all the habitable spaces
around the court (stack effect).
 The buffer spaces provided to avoid
the direct entry of solar radiation
offer a significant design approach in
the vernacular residences.
 In addition, they provide the required
level of lighting to different spaces
with different activities, facilitating
energy efficiency.