The courtyard is a bonus in every private house. It helps improve ventilation in summer, provides protection in winter, and increases the living area without increasing municipal taxes. Moreover, the courtyard is the most dynamic space in the house and the means by which any structure interacts with its environment. A house without a courtyard is like a train station without a train. The courtyard relates to the view, enjoys its benefits and improves the residents’ quality of life. It is no coincidence that the character of the Mediterranean house is defined by the calculated proportions between the spaces and the enclosed areas between them.

            Located in Kfar Tabor, a village in the Galilee, the "house of courtyards" is an example of how a division becomes a means for unification. The structure which is mostly deployed on ground level is divided into units that are either interior or exterior rooms: a protected courtyard which overlooks the surrounding fields through apertures in the wall, a courtyard shaded by a grapevine adjacent to the living room facing Mount Tabor, a service patio outside the kitchen, and a small patio adjacent to the separate unit planned as a commercial bed and breakfast suite.

            The transition between the interior and the exterior is fluent and natural along the simple elements of the structure - a wall, a cube and a rectangular box - creating a direct and accessible planning language. The house and its courtyards are connected by two layers, giving the house a sense of depth. The living room faces west through the shaded patio, and frames the view of the Tabor mountain like an impressionist painting that changes throughout the day.

See illustrations up to page 89