Courtyards Design Variants and Its Functions in Malaysian Hospitals

Abstract

The courtyard becomes a vital element that commonly applied in tropical buildings for its environmental, social and therapeutic potentials. However, effort to examine its usage and design variants is limited. This paper focuses on the application of courtyards in the context of Malaysian hospitals. Thirty-two courtyards were inventoried. Besides the courtyard functions, design variants were recorded in terms of its form and aspect ratio, courtyard orientation and physical features. The results revealed that the courtyards in the Malaysian hospitals buildings are creatively manipulated. The paper concludes with an outline of means to optimize a courtyard's microclimatic and healing performances.