A common Russian translation of "patio" as "inner courtyard" is good because of its artless fidelity. The social meaning and the social significance of the patio are intimately related to its internal nature. A classical Italian patio, a courtyard of a family residence, is the inclusive space, which sets the center of the habitat of the family and the clan. This distinguishes the patio, for instance, from the castle courtyard with its exclusive (defensive) function and a donjon in the middle. The middle of the patio is intentionally empty, for it is inhabited by the Genius of the clan.
The closest to the patio is the internal courtyard of another family-community, a monastery cloister. Its symbolic function is also to include – into the monastic fraternity, but it is to include spiritually. Hence, the spatial center of the cloister is often marked with a holy well – a sign of the community nature of the source fostering the community spirit.
Introduction of a guarding colonnade into the patio interior, its transformation into the peristyle, renders the courtyard its portliness for the external, since the Hellenic order is deprived of intimacy.
On the other hand, the partial or total bridging of the patio-atrium introduced by the Romans enhances its intimacy and creates comfort, experienced as luxury. The multitier and multicolumn patio of Renaissance palazzos is equally good both for private Penates and for townhalls.
By opening the carré and dropping its forth wall outside, the patio transforms into the court of honor – of homage and wide-eyed admiration, into an exhibition and a stage-adaptation of the family, the clan, the class, or the corporation.
Social mechanics of the patio and all its derivatives is collective and centripetal – from the rampant entrances to the central arches of the Palazzo Pitti to the carnivalesque and christmassy atriums of the Hiatt Regency.
Thus, a mall in its essence is a non-patio, socially and symbolically it is an anti-patio. This is a space of a different sociality, which is flowing, mercenary, and centrifugal.
Patiology. - Kharkov. Drozdov & Partners, 2007. - P. 4.
