The courtyard is one among the familiar concepts commonly applied in the design of buildings in almost all the Nigerian cultural groups. It is truly the traditional expression of Nigerian indigenous architecture. Its definition, historical evolution, functions and typology is worth investigating. Also, its adaptation to the contemporary architectural design and practice in different building typology in the Nigerian context will be studied. Different courtyard house studies were examined through Journal papers, conference papers and the literatures. These studies revealed that the use of courtyard in buildings (in Nigeria) is from time of old, and has become adaptive to contemporary architectural design and practice. It has almost similar form with different features due to the religious and cultural diversity of the Nigerian people. The paper concluded that, the application of courtyard in the Nigerian various traditional architecture has been influence by the religious and cultural requirements of its people rather than climatic conditions and, therefore, for the purpose of cultural preservation of the Nigerian various indigenous architecture, the courtyard concept should not be discarded in the contemporary architectural style but should also be based on the climatic and passive

The application of courtyard in a building design can contribute meaningfully towards achieving a passive building with high energy efficiency, only when its design criteria are not ignored. It is on this note that this study examined the design criteria for courtyard in different climatic zones. The courtyard design criteria with respect to form and its effects on wind movement and lighting in different climatic zones is investigated based on literature review. Journals, Conference Papers and Books were used to generate information. The study showed that, courtyard buildings have almost the same design criteria in all the climatic zones but the appropriate form, dimensions and proportions are dependent on the climatic characteristics of each zone. These criteria include: form, size, area, orientation, shading devices, vegetation, ground ratio, the courtyard aspect ratio, shape factor, perimeter ratio and water pond. The appropriate application of the courtyard proportions and dimensions could effectively improve or mire its potentials for improved environmental performance. The study concluded that due to climatic condition variations, a detailed simulation study is required for the