Welcome inside
Build one. Bring one to your city. Make one your home. Invest in a project. Help supply one. Explore the idea.
An idea for your neighborhood
A concept site plan and massing, building program and area information, with one revision.
Crowdfunding is being prepared. Requests begin with Alicia’s private review; campaigns and pledges are not open.
For developers & landowners
Site planning, development consulting and building-plan licensing.
Let’s build
For cities & public partners
Site planning, development audits and plans for your local pattern book.
Shape your city
For future residents
Explore future courtyard homes and the idea of co-building with neighbors.
Explore the possibilities
For suppliers & prefabrication partners
Materials, components and prefabricated systems for courtyard housing.
Introduce your company
For readers & the curious
Essays, project studies and ideas for the life of the city.
Explore the journal
For investors & future partners
Follow the projects taking shape, or start a conversation about investing.
Explore investingConcept illustrations, not completed developments or available homes.
For investors & future partners
Help bring courtyard neighborhoods to life. Explore concept projects or start a conversation about future possibilities.
Find your next step Explore concept projects
Follow the possibilities
Read the publication for essays, project studies and ideas about courtyard urbanism.
Explore the journalBegin a conversation
Tell us about your goals, the projects you’re drawn to and your time horizon. We’ll follow up personally.
Email AliciaPeople behind the possibilities
Investor registration is not open yet. This website does not collect investor profiles or present an investment offering.
The project gallery presents conceptual studies. A conversation does not commit an investment.
Email Alicia about the cities, project ideas or partnerships you’d like to discuss.
Email Aliciaprojects@courtyardurbanist.com
This opens your email application. Send your message there when you’re ready.
For developers & landowners
From the first site idea to the next development decision, explore what a courtyard approach could make possible.
Explore our servicesMission Bay · San Francisco
A possibility grounded in place. Explore the courtyard proposal in its GIS-informed neighborhood context, then see an inhabited vision of the same study.
Drag sideways to orbit. Use the view buttons to explore. Keyboard: arrows rotate, +/− zoom, Home resets.
This interactive view uses the same 24-building proposal as the Google Earth file, with schematic neighborhood context from OpenStreetMap and San Francisco GIS. It is a local model viewer; satellite imagery is not included. Geographic alignment is conceptual (approximately ±10–15 feet); contextual heights and street details are approximate. The rendering is an illustrative interpretation, not a surveyed reconstruction.
Context assembled September 23, 2026. © OpenStreetMap contributors · City and County of San Francisco / DataSF. Download the KMZ to explore the original file in Google Earth Pro.
Company services
Start with your site.
Choose the support you need.
01 · Basic project page
Explore what your site could become with a basic project page covering a concept site plan and massing, building program and area information.
Interactive block and building models, roof plans, ground-floor plans and street views.
Building footprints, floor areas, stories, estimated home counts and parking schedules.
Pro forma, lender materials and financial analysis are outside the basic package.
$500minimum · through 1 acre
One revision per project included
Beyond 1 acre, add $125 for each quarter acre, rounding additional acreage up to the next quarter acre. Available for sites through 5 acres.
For uncertain acreage or any site above 5 acres, request an exact quote. Larger sites are welcome.
Order a project page Ask about your site02 · A separate rendering package
Help people picture your courtyard concept with five photorealistic views of the project.
For site conversations, presentations and sharing the possibilities with others. Arrange this separate package by email; it is not included in site-planning checkout.
$500for five renders
Discuss rendersConcept-stage site plan, massing, program and area studies to help you explore a site’s potential.
Further project support
Keep developing the idea.
Work through the choices behind the design: housing mix, parking, phasing, development approach and the next questions for your professional team.
A clearer basis for deciding what to pursue next.
Explore using Courtyard Urbanist building designs as the starting point for your project, with a defined license and site-specific adaptation.
Ask about plan availability, package scope and permitted uses.
Plan licensing starts with a conversation. No plan is presented as ready to purchase, permitted or approved for a particular site. Professional design, engineering and local review remain separate project needs.
For cities & public partners
Four ways to work with Courtyard Urbanist—from a first site to locally adapted building types.
Start with one. Combine them as your work develops.
Identify a site for a courtyard block: city-owned land or land available to be assembled. Work with Courtyard Urbanist to explore the site’s potential and develop a concept for your neighborhood.
Your project pageConcept site plan · Massing · Building program · Area information
Site planning · $500 minimum through 1 acreBeyond 1 acre, add $125 for each quarter acre, rounding additional acreage up to the next quarter acre. Available through 5 acres, with one revision per project included. For uncertain acreage or sites above 5 acres, request an exact quote. Larger sites welcome.
Separate rendering package: five photorealistic renders for $500, arranged by email and not included in checkout.
Work with Courtyard Urbanist and your planning team to develop a zoning overlay for appropriate areas—near transit, schools, churches, or business districts. Model how different options could transform a neighborhood over years and decades.
Possible scopeStudy area · Overlay framework · Long-term scenarios
Explore an overlay
Invite Courtyard Urbanist to present the courtyard urbanism approach to city staff, developers, community stakeholders, and the fire department. Use presentations and workshops to explore examples, discuss local questions, and hear feedback.
Possible scopePresentations · Stakeholder workshops · Technical discussions
Request a presentationAn exterior stair connects the rear landings. Windows and a ground-floor door face the courtyard.
2 × 3BD + office · 6 × 2BD
One full-floor simplex on each of levels 1 and 2.
50′ × 40′ × 6 floor plates · Exterior stair and open landings excluded.
| Level | Program | Home target* | GSF |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total gross floor area | 12,000 | ||
*Approximate home areas, not gross floor areas. Each 1,645-sf simplex carries forward half of the former duplex target; the 780-sf and 710-sf targets are unchanged. Total home area: about 7,830 sf.
GSF includes walls, elevator, shared circulation and support within the main building. Ground-floor GSF includes residential access as well as the shops. The mansard assumes the full floor plate; its home target allows for the roof slope. These are planning assumptions, not measured room layouts.
Explore Courtyard Urbanist building types such as Fifty Forty and the point-access ELL, then co-develop them with a local architect so façades and building form respond to local conditions. Develop a locally adapted collection for your city’s pattern book or demonstration project.
Possible scopePrototype selection · Local architectural collaboration · Licensing
Discuss prototype licensingConcept project gallery
These concept projects imagine what real sites could become—from a neighborhood corner to a city riverfront. They are explorations of possibility, created to spark the imagination about courtyard life.
CONCEPT PROJECTS · Ideas to inspire what sites could become.
Concept project
A concept for a four-acre block: apartment houses, two shared gardens and a square open to Penn Avenue.
Explore the concept
Concept project
A concept for two courtyard gardens and a public piazza, explored through a geographic model and an illustrative architectural vision.
Explore the concept
Concept project
A concept for turning an underused bank property into homes, neighborhood shops, a civic plaza and a large shared garden.
Explore the concept
Concept project
A concept study comparing a townhouse plan with a neighborhood of apartment houses, gardens and a public waterfront.
Explore the concept
Concept project
A speculative vision for city life around the Arch: courtyard blocks, walkable streets and an inhabited riverfront.
Explore the conceptYour site. Its potential.
East Liberty · Pittsburgh
Many small buildings.
A generous civic heart.
CONCEPT PROJECT · Block B massing exploration
The idea
The Block B study assembles Fifty Forty and Sixty Forty building types around two protected gardens. A public square opens north to Penn Avenue, bringing markets, dining and neighborhood life into the block.
Distinct entrances, façades and rooflines allow a large site to read as many apartment houses.
Homes overlook planted courts, while the public square remains open to the surrounding neighborhood.
The early massing estimates about 455,000 gross square feet, including roughly 33,000 net square feet of commercial space.
Concept study; quantities are preliminary and subject to design and feasibility testing.
San Francisco · California
A possibility grounded in place.
CONCEPT PROJECT · GIS-informed massing exploration
The idea
The study brings individual buildings together around planted residential courts and a central public space. Street-facing shops, dining and roof terraces give the proposal places for both neighborhood activity and quieter life at home.
A fountain piazza links the blocks, with active ground floors facing the street and square.
Two sheltered courts gather the green space where residents can see and use it.
Rotate the original proposal in its geographic context, switch to the rendering, or download the Google Earth file.
Concept massing and illustrative rendering; geographic alignment and surrounding building heights are approximate.
Explore the study
Lincoln Square · Chicago
A familiar corner.
A new neighborhood possibility.
CONCEPT PROJECT · Mixed-use courtyard vision
The idea
The concept replaces drive-through infrastructure and surface parking with mixed-use buildings. A compact bank branch stays at the corner, alongside shops, family-sized homes and a courtyard held in common.
A bank and neighborhood storefronts address Western, Lawrence and the civic plaza.
The interior becomes a planted shared yard, overlooked by apartments and protected from traffic.
Coordinated development pads could allow several builders to contribute within one landscape and entitlement plan.
Illustrative capacity study. Construction costs, financing, land arrangements and approvals remain to be tested.
RiverWard site · North Center, Chicago
More homes.
A riverfront shared by more people.
CONCEPT PROJECT · Comparative courtyard study
The idea
This alternative for the RiverWard site tests a courtyard neighborhood against the approved 49-townhouse plan. Individual party-wall buildings enclose gardens and open to a riverwalk, restaurants, public steps and a piazza on the North Branch.
The study includes 52 four-bedroom homes with offices, 91 two-bedrooms, 78 one-bedrooms and 39 studios.
Active ground floors and broad public spaces bring everyday neighborhood life to the water.
About half the site remains unbuilt, accommodating courtyards, passages and shared outdoor space.
Courtyard Urbanist alternative concept; the 260-home scheme is not the approved RiverWard development.
St. Louis · Missouri
A great monument.
A place for everyday city life.
CONCEPT PROJECT · Speculative neighborhood vision
The idea
The concept imagines the lands around the Gateway Arch as a walkable mixed-use district. Courtyard buildings and public riverfront spaces bring homes and everyday activity into the setting of the monument.
The Arch remains the landmark within a more continuous neighborhood fabric.
The illustrations explore building fronts, gathering places and pedestrian routes beside the water.
This is an independent design provocation about what the area could become.
Independent speculative concept; not a National Park Service proposal or an approved development.
For future residents
Find people and groups in your area looking to buy, rent or build courtyard neighborhoods.
Bring local demand together and help shape opportunities for new courtyard homes.
Suppliers & prefabrication partners
Seeking partners for digital integration.
We’re looking for manufacturers and suppliers with APIs, structured product, specification and pricing data, or agent-ready workflows who would like to explore connecting with the Courtyard Urbanist design system.
Introduce your companyOpens your email app. Include your website, the regions you serve and the digital connections your team can support.
For readers & the curious
Essays, project studies and dispatches on courtyard housing, shared gardens, and the places we call home.
Read the publicationPull up a chair
A place to start.
A place to keep exploring.
Meet Alicia and discover the idea behind Courtyard Urbanist.
Explore essays, design studies and dispatches from the work.
Follow Alicia on Twitter/X for daily ideas, works in progress and conversations about better city living.
Reading and social links open the publication or Twitter/X in a new tab.
A project page for your site
Explore what your site could become. Choose a direct service order or request a community-funded concept. Both begin with your site and the possibilities you’d like to explore.
An example project page
Explore the Candlestick concept to see how a project page brings a site plan, massing, building program and area information together.
Your basic package focuses on these concept studies. Pro forma, lender materials and financial analysis are outside this package.
View an example project01 · Direct service
Order a basic project page with a site plan and massing, building program and area information, and one revision per project. The minimum is $500 for sites through 1 acre, then $125 per additional quarter acre, rounded up, through 5 acres. See the exact acreage, billed band and total below before checkout. Above 5 acres or if the area is uncertain, ask Alicia for a quote first.
Use the secure checkout below when available, or email Alicia to discuss your order. Five photorealistic renders are a separate optional $500 package.
Discuss a direct orderOpens your email app. The service details, pricing and checkout status are below.
02 · Community-funded request
Email Alicia your site location, approximate acreage, idea and an aerial image with the parcel outlined for a private review.
After review, Alicia would approve the scope and funding goal for a campaign. Public campaign details and any image need separate approval before publication.
The planned process is pledge first: supporters would be charged only if the approved campaign goal is met. Design work would begin after sufficient funds are collected.
Community funding is being prepared. Pledges are not open.
Request a private reviewOpens your email app. Attach the outlined aerial there, and send only an image you have permission to share with Alicia.
The basic package
Interactive block and building models, roof plans, ground-floor plans and street views.
Building footprints, floor areas, stories, estimated home counts and parking schedules.
Concept-stage site plan, massing, program and area studies to help you explore a site’s potential.
Direct service · How it works
Enter the actual area, including decimals. A $500 minimum covers sites through 1 acre. Above 1 acre, additional quarter acres are rounded up at $125 each, through 5 acres. The calculator shows your entered area, billed band and total before checkout.
Continue with the displayed total and confirm the same amount in Stripe before paying. Enter the same exact acreage, your name, a short project label and an email where Alicia can reach you. To change the acreage, return here and recalculate. Ask Alicia to arrange the separate optional five-render package for $500.
Send your site location, exact acreage, what you’d like to explore and an aerial image with the parcel outlined. Include the same project label and email used at checkout, plus your Stripe receipt or payment reference, so Alicia can match your brief to your paid order.
Your site brief and outlined aerial image stay private.
Email your site briefOpens an editable email template. Fill in the details and attach your outlined aerial and receipt there. Public use needs separate approval.
