Courtyard

Courtyard
Originally uploaded by termeern

This is one of my favorite photos that I have taken while being in Mexico.

This photo captures everything that I wanted in a courtyard. It is an example of how the courtyard is a minimal structure and how it shouldn't be the focus of any picture but the courtyard frames the sky.

The is a photo of the ancient Mayan ruins. This was a very typical house in their culture. The climate where the ruins are is very nice with temperatures in the mid 70s all year around. When climbing the Pyramid of The Sun, it was very clear how important the sun and the sky was to these people. The Sun was a very important part of the lifestyle in this culture. They models their houses to have a central courtyard in which the sun would enter and you would be able to see the light.

When asked, "did theses houses have windows on the exterior?" the answer was simply, "no, they had no need. They always put a central courtyard".

In this photo, is it very easy to understand how this simple structure meets the sky and more importantly, how the sky meets the household.

n.tm