Abstract
A courtyard is an architectural design element commonly applied in tropical buildings for its social, environmental and therapeutic potentials. However, effort to examine its usage and design variants is limited. This paper focuses on the application of courtyards in the context of Malaysian hospitals. Thirty-two courtyards in 19 hospitals were inventoried. Besides the courtyard functions, design variants were recorded in terms of its form and aspect ratio, courtyard orientation and physical features within the courtyard. The results revealed that the courtyards in the Malaysian hospitals buildings are creatively manipulated. The paper concludes with an outline of means to optimise a courtyard's microclimatic and healing performances. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.