The hierarchical configuration of courtyards in the urban environment as a means of reinvigorating a housing type

Historically, the city has united the incongruous residential and commercial components. Acknowledging the different requirements for the individual as well as the group, its planners created an architectural world whose imposing masses of buildings were experientially balanced by carefully located open spaces. The residential aspect and the plaza or courtyard are largely absent in the city today. By studying numerous precedents, a model or building prototype that addresses the issues of solid/void and public/private can be developed that addresses the urban context while presenting itself as a contemporary work.