Courtyards as an Approach for Sustainable and Affordable Housing Design

Sustainable housing types are not supported by contemporary building regulations in Palestine, especially in the suburbs: area classified: A, which allows for a one-floor single-house and two-floor duplex house designs. Therefore, the current housing types must adapt adequately to the climatic and environmental conditions. This paper develops a design model of courtyard housing as an approach for sustainable-affordable housing design in suburban areas, focusing on upgrading building regulations to support this model. Three values for sustainability were established to develop the model: environmental qualities, densification with low-rise construction, and affordability. The paper compares the proposed design model with the current housing types in terms of the mentioned values using quantitative measurements for affordability, densification, and environment quality. A questionnaire survey was also conducted to verify the proposed model application on site according to the current building regulations. The main finding is that adapting the courtyard housing model is possible by inserting flexibility into the building regulations with setbacks, building-to-site ratio, and wall-to-wall buildings. This flexibility will assist in achieving sustainability values. It has also been found that duplex courtyard houses will be a better choice for future housing because of their better environmental qualities, densification, and affordability than one-floor courtyard houses. The study further discusses the potential and challenges of adapting specific proportions and directions for designing suburban courtyard housing. It suggests thermal comfort and ventilation solutions without decreasing the current housing amenities.