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
Atrium (architecture) incorporating an atrium is that it typically creates unused vertical space which could otherwise be occupied by additional floors. In a "domus", a large house in Ancient Roman architecture, the "atrium" was the open central court with enclosed rooms on all sides. In the middle of the atrium was the "impluvium", a shallow pool sunken into the floor to catch rainwater from the roof. Some surviving examples are beautifully decorated. The opening in the ceiling above the pool ("compluvium") called for some means of support for the roof, and it is here where one differentiates between five different styles of