Academic literature on the topic 'Courtyard houses – Canada – Designs and plans'

This paper examines the transition spaces for homes between inside and outside designed by architects during the early twentieth century in the United States. Beginning in the late nineteenth century, the plan book became a readily available option for those wishing to build their own home in the U.S. Following a shortage of single-family houses after World War I, the design of small, single-family houses were distributed primarily through the plan book vehicle. One such plan book-producing group was the Architects’ Small House Service Bureau (ASHSB). The bureau was composed entirely of registered architects and produced multiple folios of small house plans between 1914 and 1942. This paper focuses specifically on the relationship between the interior spaces and outdoors through the use of loggias, pergolas, sun porches, bay windows and other devices. The ASHSB was unique in that they promoted customization of their mass-produced house plan designs to each individual site. Thus, unlike many other plan book creators, ASHSB members determined that the relationship to the site was important to the overall design and the use of these transitional indoor/outdoor spaces, a necessity. The plans designed by ASHSB members fell into one of three sizes — four-room, five-room or six-room plan types. The maximum number of principal rooms was six. All small house designs were presented within a rendered landscaped setting showing trees, bushes, benches and other landscaping features. At least one of the following -- porticoes, porches, dormers, bay windows, picture windows, port coheres, and sun porches—was used in every design produced by the ASHSB architect members. This work examines the range and type of spaces as well as the written recommendations and specifications that accompanied plan sets distributed by the ASHSB across the U.S and Canada during the early twentieth century.

"The word Type represents not so much the image of a thing to be copied or perfectly imitated as the idea of an element that must itself serve as a rule for the Model... The Model, understood in terms of the practical execution of art, is an object that must be repeated such as it is; Type on the contrary, is an object (an idea) according to which one can conceive works that do not resemble one another at all. Everything is precise and given in the Model; everything is more or less vague in the Type." (Quatremere de Quincy, 1832) "The rustic hut ... is the model on which all the magnificent achievements of Architecture have been imagined. It is by moving closer, in the execution of work, to the simplicity of this first model that we avoid the essential defects and attain the true perfections ...It is the essential parts which contain all the beauties ... " (M.-A. Laugier, 1755)
Master of Architecture

iDuring the past twenty years, China has been making dramatic progress in both the quality and the quantity of collective housing construction. However, many old problems still exist, and many more new problems have emerged, especially in some historical and compact but now fastgrowing cities, such as Suzhou, a 2500-year historic city with more than one million people.The objective of this study is to explore a design strategy to improve the collective dwelling environment --- the most popular dwelling type in China today --- in such a fast growing context. In order to provide an improvement in urban dwelling environments for residents, it is necessary to rethink the interaction between the individual resident and his or her dwelling. "Because building a house is a cultural phenomenon, its form and organization are greatly influenced by the cultural milieu to which it belongs."' In concurrence with this statement, this study examines not only the contemporary urban situation and typical residential environment but also the traditional urban fabric and housing settlement.Based on the principle that a harmonious environment results from "a whole range of sociocultural factors"Z, this study seeks several equilibriums: between the urban tissue and the building, between the building and the dwelling, between nature and the human being. The author's longterm goal is to apply the knowledge gained in this study in future practice.In the first part of this report, theoretical research is presented concerning the evolution of Chinese housing. Narrowing its geographical focus, this study selects Suzhou, a medium-size city at Yangtze Delta --- one of the most rapidly growing and developing plains in China --- as the site for the study. The historical dwelling pattern and current public housing style have been studied. Drawing on extensive research and field observation, the scope of the study is confined to rebuilding the harmony between human beings in all their diversity and common needs, and the morphological, functional and environmental aspects of residential environments.In the second part, a design model is proposed. Inspired by traditional interdisciplinary design strategies, as well as by a brief study of contemporary social needs, the author has proposed a new housing type: bio-climatic "atrium type" collective housing. This type links bioclimatic design principles to the framework of Open Building. On this basis, an experimental design proposal is next presented. In a specific site, it examines a way to help people exercise control of their immediate living environment, with both individual and social sustainable perspectives in mind.
Department of Architecture

Li Tsz Kwan Esther.
"Architecture Department, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Master of Architecture Programme 2005-2006, design report."
Includes bibliographical references.
Chapter 0.0 --- abstract
Chapter 1.0 --- Introduction
Chapter 1.1 --- seasons
Chapter 2.0 --- thesis statement
Chapter 2.1 --- city - architecture - nature
Chapter 2.2 --- "architecture, intermediate between city and nature"
Chapter 3.0 --- reviews of authors
Chapter 3.1 --- Glaston Bachelard : The Poetic of Space
Chapter 3.2 --- Tadao Ando: nature - architecture
Chapter 3.3 --- Jurgen Mayer Hermann - Condensation wall
Chapter 4.0 --- design approach
Chapter 4.1 --- elements expression
Chapter 4.2 --- journey - nature
Chapter 4.3 --- journey - city
Chapter 4.4 --- design program
Chapter 5.0 --- prellmenary design
Chapter 5.1 --- site - shatin
Chapter 5.2 --- inhabitable bridge
Chapter 5.3 --- journey-city
Chapter 5.4 --- nature - community
Chapter 6.0 --- conclusion
Chapter 7.0 --- bibliography