Courtyard Logic

A riad, a Sevillian patio and a Persian hayat solve the same problem in three grammars: pull air across water, hold shade at the centre, and let the building turn its back on the street. None of it was styling. It was climate control made of masonry, orientation and habit.

This exhibition sets nine measured courtyard drawings against four contemporary buildings that borrow their logic rather than their look. A clinic in Cordoba, a school in Rabat, a housing block in Lisbon and a library in Ahmedabad each give up floor area to open air, and each publishes the energy figures that decision bought them.

A reading room at the end of the gallery holds the survey drawings, the thermal readings and the correspondence with the families who still live in the buildings that were measured.