Courtyard: A pool, four trees, and the sky

A riad's inner courtyard. The plan is a strictly symmetrical rectangle, with a shallow pool or a square basin embedded in the ground at its center. The water surface is almost still, with only a thin stream falling; four corners each have an orange tree or a clump of palms. The ground is geometric mosaic tiles, surrounded by a cloister supported by horseshoe arches and slender columns. Looking up, a square of blue sky is framed by the four walls. Avoid: making the courtyard an asymmetrical free-form garden, using large fountains and water features, having plants planted haphazardly without symmetry, sealing the atrium with glass.

Translated from Chinese by AI.

一個里亞德的中庭。平面是嚴格對稱的長方形,中央是一座淺水池或一個嵌在地面的方形水盤,水面幾乎不動只有一道細流落下;四個角各種一棵柑橘樹或一叢棕櫚。地面是幾何拼磚,四周是一圈由馬蹄拱與細柱撐起的迴廊。抬頭是被四面牆框住的一方藍天。避免:把中庭做成不對稱的自由庭院、使用大型的噴泉與水景設備、讓植物種得雜亂沒有對稱、用玻璃把天井封起來。