Editing Courtyard (section)

=== Europe ===
The central uncovered area in a Roman [[domus]] was referred to as an ''[[Atrium (architecture)|atrium]]''. Today, we generally use the term ''courtyard'' to refer to such an area, reserving the word ''atrium'' to describe a glass-covered courtyard. Roman atrium houses were built side by side along the street. They were one-storey homes without windows that took in light from the entrance and from the central atrium. The hearth, which used to inhabit the centre of the home, was relocated, and the Roman atrium most often contained a central pool used to collect rainwater, called an ''[[impluvium]]''. These homes frequently incorporated a second open-air area, the garden, which would be surrounded by Greek-style [[colonnade]]s, forming a [[peristyle]]. This created a colonnaded walkway around the perimeter of the courtyard, which influenced monastic structures centuries later.

The medieval European farmhouse embodies what we think of today as one of the most archetypal examples of a courtyard house&mdash;four buildings arranged around a square courtyard with a steep roof covered by thatch. The central courtyard was used for working, gathering, and sometimes keeping small livestock. An elevated walkway frequently ran around two or three sides of the courtyards in the houses. Such structures afforded protection, and could even be made defensible.