Southwestern architecture and adobe homes are not complete without a courtyard feature. Popular with homeowners, as in Arizona history, the courtyard is exposed to outdoor air yet provides the presence of cooling shade and running water from lovely water features amidst verdant plants and flowers. The mild climate in this area of the country allows you to twelve months a year benefit from such an outdoor living room as part of your Arizona landscape design.
Stucco and masonry stone walls are the essential features that provide privacy and seclusion in your home's courtyard, accessible from inside the home and also via an ornate iron gate. It is common for the beckoning courtyard to be floored with stone flagging or pavers and walkway of the samematerial to lead from the driveway or patio to the entrance to this outdoor room. Seeking relief from the intense desert sun is something all Arizona residents desire. Without prevalent large trees for shade, the hotel presents the perfect solution for instant relief from the heat of the sun.
In most areas of the USA, a flat open shade roof structure, popular on the patio is called a pergola. The slats in the roof of a pergola will always be board lumber that can provide light to heavy shade depending on the width of spacing between each span and the direction the roof boards are running in. The trellis ramada is also a flat, open shade roof structure found in Spanish architecture regions of the southwestern U.S. and in Mexico. The lines of the traditional pergola are too lightweightfor adobe style homes. The ramada offers the same benefit in the right style to compliment the design Arizona landscape design and homes.
Shade from your courtyard hotel is lovely, but adding the cooling effects of water features to your courtyard in the form of a fountain is even better. Not only does the stone paving floor and moving water give you the benefit of a greatly reduced outdoor temperatures, the sound of running water is relaxing and refreshing. Water features also provide humans with increased levels of serotonin which instantly elevates anyone's mood. The faster the courtyard fountain runs and the more water that is contained in the pool or pond, the higher the levels of serotonin are released into the shaded air for your personal emotionalbenefit.
Centrally located or tucked into a corner, the courtyard water feature can be designed as a fountain or small watergarden pond. These cooling, soothing additions to courtyard design can be constructed from masonry or tile, installed cut stone and natural stone shapes. To soften the look of the enfolding hardscaping found in paving, stone and masonry elements like stone and stucco walls and lush courtyards and fountains, Arizona will feature many beautiful plants in a pleasing landscape design. Some courtyard plants will be there for foliage interest and others will lend the color and interest of flowers. Good attention must be used to select the right plants for the sunnier spots and those that love shade where necessary.
