COURTYARD CITY - HERB GREENE

Courtyard City

Housing, for practically all income groups in America, has become problematic. Around urgan centers, the sprawl of typical subdivisions has created severe problems in transportation, excessive cost of services and the destruction of the open lan damenities which formed the initial goals of the suburban patter. Building costs have reached levels so inflated that fewer and fewer member of a growing population and afford a house on its own piece of land. Additionally, the economica nd social stratiication inherent in most of our residential prototypes is beginning to be seen by sociologists and planners as a contributary cause of some formidable social and governmental ills in our society.

The following poroposal suggests another kind of prototype, a framework for houseing tha tattempts to deal with tsome aspects of the housing problem. Courtyard City is a framework of fifty by eighty foot lots defined by an artfully designed system of walls that give provacy and allow maximum use of the land. The individual courtyards, completely private from the street, can accomodate practically any single family housing unit, prefabricated or custom built, that is currently available. It should be noted that one third of all new housing units of 1969 were Mobile Homes.

BREAKUP OF ECONOMIC STRATIFICATION
The courtyard concept under discussion would allow the introduction of Mobile HOmes into a neighborhood without visually disrupting the neighborhood. The courtyard concept could be developed for Mobile HOmes entirely or for custom built townhouses, but it also could be developed as a mixed project to avoid the economic stratification inherent in most of our current housing patters. People with varied incomes and life styles could form neighborhood.

USER CAN CONTROL DESIGN
The Courtyard concept makes a statement about the value of a piece of gound large enough for the owner to install a swimming pool, vegetalbe garden, gues house, tool shed or any additional uses. The courtyard also offers the user the perogative of determining the style and character of their ndividual domain.

WALLS PROVIDE SENSE OF PLACE
Another function of the courtyard walls is to establish a sense of place. The walls create stability in the neighborhood for generations to come. The structures within the courtyards may change while the walls acting as important features and landmarks remain.

SIDEWALLS
The courtyard side walls are to be substantial elements of masonry, concrete or stucco. They would be shaped and textured to provide feedback of the land forms and valued architectural forms of a particular region. Carefully formed openings in the sidewalls would encourage social interaction between courtyards while maintaining privacy.

FRONT AND REAR WALLS
Projections from the wall, necessary for stability, would be incorporated into features for seating, gardening and other domestic activities. Materials for the front and rear walls include wood and other lightweight materials. Carports, garages, entrance gates and screening garden walls are provided by the project developer. In cases where the user is party to the initial development, a choice of materials and design would be possile.

MULTI-STORY
The interior of each courtyard is completely screened from view on all sides enabling the user to utilize whatever tyhpe of housing their situation warrants. Two and three story elements can project above the courtyard walls, providing view and taking advantage of light and air.

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REGIONAL RESPONSE
A physical framework for housing should respond to the contingencies of place. Climate, land forms, cultural and social patterns, valued existing architecture and technologies pertinent to a region should be accounted for. The courtyard concept would probably work best in the southwestern quarter of the country. Cities such as Los Angeles, Santa Fe, San Diego, Denver, dallas, Phoenix, Pueblo, and Tucson, or such locations with the climate, land forms, and previous patterns for habition which are particularly appropriate to the courtyard concept.

ADDITIONAL CHARACTERISTICS
Mobile Homes can be moved in and out of a courtyard.

Additions and alterations can be made to housing its within the courtyard causing a minimum of disturbance to the neighborhood.

Each unit has parking for three cars. Additional parking can be provided throughout the project.

Two family units or duplexes would be viable within the fifty y eighty foot lot dimentions.

Certain low density office-residence combinations could be accomodated in sections of the neighborhood that are accessible to additional parking.

Interior ehicular streets have one outlet. There is a space for turn around worked into the street design.

For certain units within the project, the sidewalls can be thickened to become enclosed spaces which are used as part of the courtyard house. The project drawings show this type of wall development as a feature to which lightweight shop or field built spaces are attached.

In order to relax the grid pattern an dto provide more site possibilities, some of the lot sizes range from forty five to sixty five feet in width.

The courtyard concept with zero lot line restrictions allows for maximum use of land.

Certain spatial restrictions would be necessary for two and three story structures that extend above the courtyard. These restrictions would protect adjacent courtyards from excessive blockage of light and air.

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