Scholars have opined that the courtyard is a passive architectural design element and
that it can act as a microclimate modifier provided that its design requirements are not
ignored. But despite the assertions, empirical studies on the microclimatic
performance of a fully enclosed courtyard house and the non-courtyard house seems
to be deficient, and the assumption that the Courtyard is a passive architectural design
element needs to be substantiated. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to
investigate the microclimatic performance of a fully enclosed courtyard and noncourtyard
residential buildings. The main objective is to compare their microclimatic
performances in other to draw a conclusion on the best option. Three Hobo Weather
Data Loggers were used to collect climatic data in the buildings, and the third one was
situated in the outdoor area as a benchmark. The climatic variables investigated are;
air temperature and relative humidity. The fully enclosed courtyard residential building
is seen to have a better air temperature difference of 2 oC to 4 oC and the relative
humidity of 2 % to 6 %. In conclusion, the fully enclosed courtyard residential building
has confirmed a more favorable microclimatic performance, and future studies
towards its optimization are recommended.