What is a courtyard?

Answer 1

A courtyard is an area inside of a building, but it does not have a roof. The courtyard is exposed to the entire sky. You cannot walk outside of the courtyard without going through the building first.

Courtyards built into commercial office buildings and apartment houses were used as an air conditioning medium, before forced ventilation and mechanical cooling. The courtyard, because of limited sunlight, was cooler than the outside envelope of the building- this created a negative pressure. When the window to a courtyard was opened, a window on the outside of the building envelope could be opened, and the negative pressure in the courtyard would draw air across the floor- the courtyard then became a chimney of sorts, and this was a means of cross ventilation- simply the movement of air across the floor would make it seem cooler - for human comfort. Brilliant design.