Illustrated Architecture Dictionary

Peristyle
PEAR i style

An open space surrounded by columns

A colonnade surrounding a building or enclosing a court

Peri means "around" and style means "column"

Peristyle courtyard: A courtyard with a covered walkway all the way around it, with columns holding up the ceiling

Peristyle porch: A porch surrounded by columns

Peristyle temple: A temple that has columns all the way around

Classical Roman architecture: Instead of surrounding their houses with large lawns and gardens, the Romans created their gardens inside their domus. The peristylium was an open courtyard within the house; the columns surrounding the garden supported a shady roofed portico whose inner walls were often embellished with elaborate wall paintings. Examples: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology model and Roman house floor plan

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"In Greek and Roman architecture a peristyle is a columned porch or open colonnade in a building that surrounds a court that may contain an internal garden. 'Tetrastoon' (Greek: 'four arcades') is another name for this feature." - Wikipedia: "Peristyle"

Atrium: open space without columns

Colonnade: A range of columns supporting either arches or an entablature and usually one side of a roof

Court/courtyard: An area open to the sky and mostly or entirely surrounded by buildings or walls; a high interior usually having a glass roof and surrounded by several stories of galleries or the like.

Hypostyle:A building with a roof or (flat) ceiling supported by rows of columns.

Portico: A roofed entrance porch supported on at least one side by columns


Examples from Buffalo:


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