In architecture, a hall is a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age and early Middle Ages in northern Europe, a mead hall was where a lord and his retainers ate and also slept. Later in the Middle Ages, the great hall was the largest room in castles and large houses, and where the servants usually slept. As more complex house plans developed, the hall remained a large room for dancing and large feasts, often still with servants sleeping there. It was usually immediately inside the main door. In modern British houses, an entrance hall next to the front door remains an indispensable feature, even if it is essentially merely a corridor.
In ancient Greek and Roman architecture, a peristyle is a continuous porch formed by a row of columns surrounding the perimeter of a building or a courtyard. Tetrastoön is a rarely used archaic term for this feature. The peristyle in a Greek temple is a peristasis (περίστασις). In the Christian ecclesiastical architecture that developed from the Roman basilica, a courtyard peristyle and its garden came to be known as a cloister.
In architecture, an atrium is a large open-air or skylight-covered space surrounded by a building. Atria were a common feature in Ancient Roman dwellings, providing light and ventilation to the interior. Modern atria, as developed in the late 19th and 20th centuries, are often several stories high, with a glazed roof or large windows, and often located immediately beyond a building's main entrance doors.
In ancient Rome, the domus was the type of town house occupied by the upper classes and some wealthy freedmen during the Republican and Imperial eras. It was found in almost all the major cities throughout the Roman territories. The modern English word domestic comes from Latin domesticus, which is derived from the word domus. Along with a domus in the city, many of the richest families of ancient Rome also owned a separate country house known as a villa. Many chose to live primarily, or even exclusively, in their villas; these homes were generally much grander in scale and on larger acres of land due to more space outside the walled and fortified city.
Ranch is a domestic architectural style that originated in the United States. The ranch-style house is noted for its long, close-to-the-ground profile, and wide open layout. The style fused modernist ideas and styles with notions of the American Western period of wide open spaces to create a very informal and casual living style. While the original ranch style was informal and basic in design, ranch-style houses built in the United States from around the early 1960s increasingly had more dramatic features such as varying roof lines, cathedral ceilings, sunken living rooms, and extensive landscaping and grounds.
A haveli is a traditional townhouse, mansion, manor house, in the Indian subcontinent, usually one with historical and architectural significance, and located in a town or city. The word haveli is derived from Arabic hawali, meaning "partition" or "private space", popularised under the Mughal Empire, and was devoid of any architectural affiliations. Later, the word haveli came to be used as a generic term for various styles of regional mansions, manor houses, townhouse found in the Indian subcontinent.
A riad or riyad is a type of garden courtyard historically associated with house and palace architecture in the Maghreb and al-Andalus. Its classic form is a rectangular garden divided into four quadrants by two paved paths intersecting in the center, where a fountain is typically situated. The planted areas are usually sunken below the level of the paths. Its origin is generally attributed to traditional Persian gardens whose influence spread during the Islamic period. The term "riad" is nowadays often used in Morocco to refer to a hotel or guesthouse-style accommodation with shared common areas and private rooms, often within a restored traditional mansion.
Shinden-zukuri (寝殿造) refers to an architectural style created in the Heian period (794－1185) in Japan and used mainly for palaces and residences of nobles.
A sahn, is a courtyard in Islamic architecture, especially the formal courtyard of a mosque. Most traditional mosques have a large central sahn, which is surrounded by a riwaq or arcade on all sides. In traditional Islamic design, residences and neighborhoods can have private sahn courtyards.
In architecture and construction, a sliding glass door is a type of sliding door made predominantly from glass, that is situated in an external wall to provide egress and light. The doors can give access to a backyard or patio while providing a pleasant view, and when not fully covered can be a source of passive daylighting. Like a window, when open it also provides fresh air and copious natural light. It is considered a single unit consisting of two or more panel sections, some or all being mobile to slide open. Another design, a wall-sized glass pocket door has one or more panels movable and sliding into wall pockets, completely disappearing for a 'wide open' indoor-outdoor room experience.
A courtyard house is a type of house—often a large house—where the main part of the building is disposed around a central courtyard. Many houses that have courtyards are not courtyard houses of the type covered by this article. For example, large houses often have small courtyards surrounded by service rooms or corridors, but the main rooms are not disposed around a courtyard. Blenheim Palace in England is an example of such a house.
Servants' quarters, also known as staff's quarters, are those parts of a building, traditionally in a private house, which contain the domestic offices and staff accommodation. From the late 17th century until the early 20th century, they were a common feature in many large houses. Sometimes they are an integral part of a smaller house—in the basements and attics, especially in a town house, while in larger houses they are often a purpose-built adjacent wing or block. In architectural descriptions and guidebooks of stately homes, the servants' quarters are frequently overlooked, yet they form an important piece of social history, often as interesting as the principal part of the house itself.
Courtyard housing is a distinct medium-density multi-family housing typology centered on a shared outdoor open space or garden and surrounded by one or two stories of apartment units typically only accessed by courtyard from the street. Courtyard housing developed independently in many cultures around the world as a response to particular local needs and economic and social factors.
Wada is a type of dwelling found in Maharashtra, western India. Wada is a Marathi word for denoting a large mansion. The term, in all probability, is derived from the Sanskrit word Vata, meaning a plot or a piece of land meant for a house. Over time it came to denote the house built on that plot. Wadi, an extended meaning of wada, denotes a cluster of huts. Typically, wada refers to a house with courtyards found in Maharashtra and surrounding regions in India.
Andalusian patios are central open spaces in the courtyard houses of the south of Spain. The stone patios are an architectural evolution of the Roman atrium.
A porch is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance of a building. A porch is placed in front of the façade of a building it commands, and forms a low front. Alternatively, it may be a vestibule, or a projecting building that houses the entrance door of a building.
The vernacular residential architecture of Western Sichuan is one kind of Sichuan vernacular architecture styles in Sichuan, China. Those vernacular residential areas are located with a densely populated plain with rivers in the west of the Longquan Mountains in Sichuan basin and centered on Chengdu.
Architecture of Nigeria was historically influenced by environmental conditions as well as social and cultural factors. The coming of missionaries and political changes brought about by colonialism precipitated a change in architectural style and utility of buildings. A Gothic revival style was adopted for early churches built in the colony of Lagos. A one or two-storey timber house building made with pre-fabricated material components and designed with the influence of classic antiquity styles served as mission house for the missionaries. Colonial residents working for the Public Works Department introduced a variant of neoclassical architecture to designs of government buildings and private residencies.
Sha'ar HaGolan is a Neolithic archaeological site near Kibbutz Sha'ar HaGolan in Israel. The type site of the Yarmukian culture, it is notable for the discovery of a significant number of artistic objects, as well as some of the earliest pottery in the Southern Levant.
Traditional houses in Morocco are usually centered around a large internal courtyard, the wast ad-dar, and are characterized by a focus on interior decoration rather than on external appearance. The houses of wealthy residents featured decoration typical of Moroccan architecture and medieval Moorish architecture, including carved and painted wood, carved stucco, and zellij. The center of larger houses could also be occupied by a riad garden, particularly in places like Marrakesh where more space was available.
