Courtyard Housing for Health and Happiness

This presentation highlights my research findings on courtyard housing renewal and redevelopment projects in China, and cooperative housing and cohousing in North America (Canada, in particular). It links architecture with social sciences and humanities, and connects housing with health and happiness. This study takes a holistic view of health as the state of being well in body or mind, which describes a person’s mental or physical condition. The research also complies with the World Health Organization’s 1946 definition that Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. The research took a mixed method of onsite and online surveys and interviews. The findings reveal, among other things that, the courtyard is an essential element in promoting social health and happiness whose design must follow an optimum proportion of building height to distance under each climate.