---
title: "Arcades (119)"
created: 2026-07-01
updated: 2026-07-01
type: concept
status: compiled
namespace: pattern-language
pattern_number: 119
pattern_name: "Arcades"
source_repository: https://github.com/zenodotus280/apl-md
source_url: https://github.com/zenodotus280/apl-md/blob/master/Patterns/Arcades%20%28119%29.md
license_note: Non-commercial reuse with attribution; see namespace README and source LICENSE.md.
related_patterns:
  - "Cascade of Roofs (116)"
  - "Pedestrian Street (100)"
  - "Connected Buildings (108)"
  - "Circulation Realms (98)"
  - "Ceiling Height Variety (190)"
  - "Sheltering Roof (117)"
  - "Column Place (226)"
  - "Low Doorway (224)"
  - "Column Connections (227)"
  - "Building Edge (160)"
  - "Half-Open Wall (193)"
  - "Structure Follows Social Spaces (205)"
  - "Thickening the Outer Walls (211)"
---

# Arcades (119)

> Source pattern from the abridged `apl-md` corpus. Use as a design reference and constraint seed; do not treat as commercial-clean training data.

### Problem
>Arcades—covered walkways at the edge of buildings, which are partly inside, partly outside—play a vital role in the way that people interact with buildings.

### Solution
>Wherever paths run along the edge of buildings, build arcades, and use the arcades, above all, to connect up the buildings to one another, so that a person can walk from place to place under the cover of the arcades.

### Related Patterns
... the [[Cascade of Roofs (116)]] may be completed by arcades. Paths along the building, short paths between buildings, [[Pedestrian Street (100)]], paths between [[Connected Buildings (108)]], and parts of [[Circulation Realms (98)]] are all best as arcades. This is one of the most beautiful patterns in the language; it affects the total character of buildings as few other patterns do.

Keep the arcade low - [[Ceiling Height Variety (190)]]; bring the roof of the arcade as low as possible - [[Sheltering Roof (117)]]; make the columns thick enough to lean against - [[Column Place (226)]]; and make the openings between columns narrow and low - [[Low Doorway (224)]], [[Column Connections (227)]] either by arching them or by making deep beams or with lattice work - so that the inside feels enclosed - [[Building Edge (160)]], [[Half-Open Wall (193)]]. For construction see [[Structure Follows Social Spaces (205)]] and [[Thickening the Outer Walls (211)]].

---

> [!cite]- Alexander, Christopher. _A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction_. Oxford University Press, 1977, p. 580.
> #APL/confidence/high
>
> #APL/Building-Patterns/Between-the-Buildings