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Hello, In today's video we'll see about the 
courtyard design, its flooring, and wall 
finish along with its different types.

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We'll also see how to protect it. Let's get 
into the video.

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Hello, I am Dameem Ansari from Ansari Architects

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This is a detailed video about the courtyard 
designs. We're also going to show you a lot 
of pictures and videos. So, follow closely.

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Courtyards evolved as a traditional symbol 
which can be seen in our erstwhile houses.

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We call it "Muttram" in Tamil. That is the 
courtyard concept.

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The purpose of the courtyard is to facilitate 
ventilation and lighting

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That is the main reason for the courtyard 
being present in most of the old houses.

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You can see this "Muttram" in Karaikudi and 
Thanjavur houses

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Surrounding the Muttram only, the house will 
be.

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In the erstwhile houses, you can see wall 
to wall construction due to safety reasons.

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So, there is no cross ventilation facility 
other than the courtyard

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From the courtyard, ventilation will be opened 
to all rooms

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It brings in ventilation from the sky and 
sends out the hot air in the house

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The air movement outside sucks out the hot 
air in the house.

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So, you get complete ventilation inside the 
house. That is the main reason behind the 
"Muttram" concept.

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Today's courtyards are done for the aesthetic 
value and indirect lighting for the house.

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Sometimes, it is also done for air and ventilation 
purpose

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The main reason for the courtyard being popular 
in contemporary houses is because of the 
lack of scenic beauty outside.

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There would be more distance between houses, 
so keeping doors and windows open and standing 
out for leisure was possible

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Now, there is a lot of pollution, dust and 
mosquitoes outside because of which we couldn't 
sit on the balconies.

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Since the houses are very close enough it 
is difficult to sit out on the balconies.

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So, we had to bring the beauties of nature 
like greeneries inside the house.

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So, that is what we do by providing courtyards.

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When we bring the beauty of nature into your 
homes, it looks so green and gives you the 
garden feel.

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If the courtyard is near your hall, you will 
feel as though you are sitting inside the 
garden.

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When you have a coffee, it feels like you 
are sitting on the lawn and enjoying the 
greenery.

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That is the main concept of the courtyard.

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Now, we'll see about the different types 
of courtyards.

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The most popular one is the centrally placed 
courtyards.

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All the rooms like the hall, dining and even 
some bedrooms will be faced towards the courtyard.

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The overall lighting is the foremost advantage.

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Plus, you will also get a nice ventilation.

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The disadvantage is that it determines the 
plan of the house. Also, it is difficult 
to design a centrally placed courtyard in 
small houses.

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So, we do the second type of courtyard in 
such cases.

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It is the side placed courtyards, which you 
can see in this plan.

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It will run along the sides and most of the 
time it will occupy the setback space.

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Usually, we provide 4 to 5 ft setback space 
which is converted to the courtyard.

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The advantage is that you get the extra space. 
But some might feel constructing this way 
might be a violation.

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But it is just an open display area. So, 
you need not worry much about the violation.

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But if neighbours object to it, we do have 
other ideas as well.

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I will tell you about it in the final tips 
and tricks section.

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The side placed courtyards are popular in 
the compact urban houses.

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In the one ground and less compact houses.

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In such houses, if we place the courtyard 
on the side, it is very much space-saving.

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Most of the time, it will run along the living 
and dining area. So, you get a very spacious 
feeling.

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Plus, you get an enormous lighting.

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Normally, the courtyards are present on the 
ground floor.

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When you continue it on the first floor, 
you can get a beautiful scenic beauty as 
well as the lighting.

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It will be very interesting because of the 
double floor concept.

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If you have space, we can follow that. Another 
idea is open on the top concept.

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If it is left open on the top, there is a 
chance of facing many problems.

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For example, you might get mosquitoes, dust, 
etc.

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So, usually, we close at the top. We also 
use the best closing material glass. I'll 
explain it later.

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Another type is the Pooja Courtyard. You 
can see this on the internet on the famous 
house we have designed recently

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You have the pooja room in the courtyard 
itself. You can also see the beautiful lighting 
above. It serves a double purpose.

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Plus, you also get a beautiful display at 
the centre of your house.

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This is one type. Another is the balcony 
courtyard.

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Like I said before, it is difficult to open 
the balcony and get a nice view outside.

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So, we convert the balcony into a beautiful 
courtyard.

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Another important thing is that we do not 
provide the slab on the top, but beautiful 
courtyard cut-outs.

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It will be interesting to use glass covers.

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So, when converting the balcony into a courtyard, 
with privacy.

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Majority of the people feel balcony as a 
security issue.

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Because it is easy to break the balcony glass 
and enter into your home.

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Plus, people who have daughters are sceptical 
to keep the balcony open because of the privacy 
problem.

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In most houses, this balcony courtyard is 
very famous and we have designed many.

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Let's see about the types of finish you do 
to the courtyards.

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Usually for wall finish, we can use rustic 
tiles.

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Because courtyards have an outdoor look. 
So, using rustic tiles with a stone finish 
will be very suitable and beautiful.

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At the same time, you do not have to overdo 
the walls. By using a simple design in white 
finish

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it will look beautiful. If you want, you 
can add wooden panelling, niches, artefacts, 
etc.

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You can also add art works to elevate its 
beauty.

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If you use a texture finish, it will look 
different than the rest of the house

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Some you can use highlight colours like yellow, 
bright brown, etc. The rest of the house 
will be smooth

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and courtyard finish will give you an outdoor 
feel.

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The textured finish will also be beautiful. 
Considering the floor finish of the courtyards,

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we usually use ceramic base tiles that will 
be covered.

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Upon that, you can use three kind of materials.

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One is artificial grass since you can't use 
natural grass inside the courtyard because 
it is very expensive.

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Due to sunlight and exposure concerns, it 
is better to use artificial grass.

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Along with black and white colour pebbles, 
a wooden finish by the deck-wood material.

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We have used that in form of square finish.

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It adds an outdoor touch.

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Since these are removable, maintenance is 
easy for you. You can simply remove, wash 
and use it again.

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You can completely wash your courtyard once 
or twice a month. Also, it doesn't get very 
dusty often.

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We will cover most of the courtyards. So, 
if you use easy to cover materials

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the maintenance becomes very easy. Now, we'll 
see about the plants in the courtyards.

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It is very good to use real plants in the 
courtyard.

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Most of the time, it is not possible.

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To accommodate real plants, the courtyard 
has to be huge and placed in the centre.

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With big courtyards, you get adequate lighting 
to grow real plants

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Maintaining real plants are also very difficult.

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We have used real plants also. But using 
real-looking artificial plants is mostly 
preferred.

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Even if you touch it, you can't tell it is 
artificial. We use such kinds of plants.

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We design more NRI houses, that prefer to 
have these plants in their courtyards as 
they can't maintain real plants.

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So, we use carefully chosen artificial plants 
that look like real plants.

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If you place it strategically, it'll look 
very beautiful.

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Like I said before, you can also design it 
simple without plants as a dry courtyard.

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By just giving white walls, pebbles, stone 
finish, etc. If you keep it dry, the maintenance 
gets easy. Also, you get an aesthetic feel.

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We do many contemporary houses, in the minimalist 
concept where we use the dry courtyards.

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Now, I will tell you about the tips and tricks 
that can be implemented in the courtyards.

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If the top of the Courtyard is covered using 
concrete pergolas, you would get only a 6 
to 7 inches gap

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No human can enter through such a tiny space 
so we can confidently use a glass finish 
for the courtyard

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It will look very beautiful. If you do not 
prefer concrete cover

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then you can go for 4x4 inch MS bars closely 
to complete the look

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Then you can cover it with glass. Mostly 
we use glass too

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It is easy to cover and maintain also

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Another thing is to leave the courtyard exposed 
to sunlight and the sky. It is a very important 
feature.

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In the erstwhile houses, you would have observed 
how beautiful it will be to admire during 
the rain.

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Likewise, in certain courtyards, we have 
designed we have left it open to the sky.

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The majority of our clients tell us, they 
enjoy the courtyard set up more during the 
rain.

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So, if you want to get the real feeling of 
a courtyard, leave it open to the sky.

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If you are opting for that, the main problem 
you might encounter is pests.

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Usually, there are metal bars for protection, 
upon that we use stainless steel mesh which 
prevents the mosquitoes,

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lizards, cockroaches, etc. If you fix this 
mesh, you can leave it open to the sky and 
enjoy the nature coming into the house.

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We also do ceramic flooring which will not 
be obviously visible as it is covered by 
pebbles, artificial grass, wooden floor, 
etc.

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That ceramic floor is very important. It 
facilitates easy maintenance.

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It is enough if you clean once in 3 to 5 
months.

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It is also mandatory to have a water tap 
connection in your courtyard. You can connect 
a hose and just spray water to clean it.

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Having a water drain in your courtyard is 
also very important.

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We have also designed many courtyards in 
the first floor also.

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This one is of the same type.

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Another one runs along the side of the first 
floor.

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You have to plan the water drain accordingly 
to facilitate easy cleaning and maintenance.

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Another very important thing your courtyard 
needs is proper lighting. You can also give 
wall lighting.

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The lighting should be subtle, so we fix 
it under the plant. We also go for up and 
downlights as it looks very interesting.

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There are also daytime simulation lights 
that can be fixed above in the skylight area.

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If you do so, your courtyard will give you 
a daytime feeling even during the night.

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Concentrating on the lighting of your courtyard 
is very important.

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Keep your courtyard simple and dry. Do not 
overdo it with soil and real plants that 
are hard to maintain

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You can use pebbles, stones, wooden finish, 
etc to ease the maintenance.

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As I said before, there might be neighbour 
issues when you go for side courtyards. Most 
of the time we convince them by making them 
understand.

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If they see, they get convinced 90% of the 
time.

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In some cases, if they object, you can design 
it beautifully using other ways.

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This courtyard is in a Aminjikarai house.

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It is like a patio courtyard, which is attached 
to the dining area.

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From the dining, you can come here to relax 
and have a cup of coffee in the evening.

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Another courtyard we have designed is in 
a Nungambakkam house on greens road.

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Here also we have a courtyard by the dining.

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If you consider the Aminjikarai house courtyard, 
since there was a neighbours issue, we covered 
it with metal.

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We have given complete protection. None can 
break in and enter.

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There are also sliding doors that covers 
the patio.

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It is grill-less and you get complete security 
outside.

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Covering the metals, there are rustic slabs 
for privacy.

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So, there will be no neighbour issues when 
you opt for this model.

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You can also implement water features inside 
your courtyard like a cascade.

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It will look very beautiful and interesting.

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Having a swimming pool in the courtyard is 
also a nice concept.

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It gives a nice look when you see it from 
the house.

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Since the top of the courtyard is covered 
using grills, you can have a nice swimming 
pool view from the dining or other room, 
which gives you a floating feeling.

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You can also keep a swimming pool that runs 
along the sides for children.

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Mostly kids love to use swimming pools.

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So, we can go for a 2ft swimming pool which 
is very easy to maintain.

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It also gives a very beautiful water feature 
inside the house.

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If you have the courtyard near the stairs, 
it gives you nice look while walking.

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It is a nice concept and we have done it 
in many houses.

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You can also keep a courtyard in your toilet 
by designing a small skylight.

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By keeping some pebbles and plants in that 
area, it will look like resort toilets that 
are open to the sky.

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You can go for a glass cut out to avoid privacy 
issues.

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If you are residing in the appartments, designing 
a courtyard is a bit difficult. So, you convert 
the balcony into the courtyard.

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Ofcourse, we can't cut the roofs.

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In this picture, you can see a house in the 
14th floor.

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Here we have designed a courtyard by the 
dining.

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near the balcony with artificial and natural 
plants.

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We have given steak finish tiles, so it gives 
a real courtyard feeling.

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There is also a plain glass that separates 
the courtyard and dining to give the best 
experience.

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If there is a sling in the courtyard, you 
can also give a traditional touch

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In a house, we have also given wooden panneling

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which looks very traditional like erstwhile 
Karaikudi houses.

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You can also keep a washbasin in the courtyard 
near the living and dining areas.

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If you can't allocate a separate place for 
washbasin in your dining

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you can keep it in the courtyard, which serves 
a double purpose.

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You can also add artwork and murals to your 
courtyard to keep it a centre of attraction.

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When seeing it from the hall or dining, it 
will look beautiful.

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You can close your courtyard using glass, 
as all places have air conditioning now.

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So, you can keep the air conditioning from 
moving out.

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You can also leave it open in one of the 
corners of your hall.

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If you keep it open, you can close it by 
the first or second floor.

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Especially the cold air will be at the lower 
level.

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It will not go out through the courtyard 
and get wasted.

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We will cover the top using glass so AC won't 
be wasted.

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If you have an open type courtyard at the 
corner of your hall, it will look so beautiful 
with natural lighting.

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Till now, we have seen how to design a courtyard 
in a detailed manner.

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Using my 25 years of experience, I am giving 
out educational videos that will help people 
who are planning to build their homes.

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You can get notified by subcribing to our 
channel.

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Thanks for watching this video