The Courtyard Cluster
This pattern is shaped by
Problem
When multiple dwellings are arranged along a corridor or a street frontage, residents share a wall but not a life. They pass each other in the hallway without speaking. But when four to eight dwellings surround a shared courtyard, the courtyard becomes a living room — children play, neighbors talk, meals happen outside. The spatial arrangement produces the social outcome.
Evidence and Discussion
The courtyard cluster — four to eight dwellings arranged around a shared outdoor space of 100–300 square meters — is the oldest and most successful form of medium-density housing. It appears in every culture: the Roman domus, the Chinese siheyuan, the Spanish patio house, the Danish bofællesskab. The principle is consistent: when you can see your neighbors' front doors from your own, casual social contact is inevitable.
Therefore
arrange four to eight dwellings around a shared courtyard of at least 100 square meters. Give every dwelling its own front door opening onto the courtyard. Make the courtyard a positive outdoor space — enclosed on at least three sides, with a surface that supports gathering (not just lawn), and at least one large tree. Vehicle access and parking are outside the cluster, never within the courtyard. The courtyard is the social center; the dwellings are the walls that define it.