Moroccan architecture for building standards which directly affected the architecture at that time, as follows: The building regulations maintained the country's preexisting architectural features and balanced the rapid urbanization. The Riad also known as Dar is the Moroccan traditional house, which normally has two or more storeys around a courtyard. Villas are larger stand-alone housing in the urbanized area which do not need to follow traditional architectural style. Arches, most often the horseshoe arch are used in almost every aspect of Moroccan housing whether it is doors, entrances, windows or niches. Domes are often integrated with altars or commemorative monuments as well
Courtyard house only in the last couple of centuries has its use been neglected. Recently, more attention has been given to the courtyard house, as a type to solve a number of problems of dense inner city housing. Courtyard houses are also a form of dwelling built in the British Isles late in the Iron Age. They are restricted to the granite peninsula of Land's End and the Isles of Scilly, Wales and other highland areas. Examples are at Chysauster and Carn Euny in Cornwall. Another type of courtyard house was built by the landowners in England in the late Middle Ages