The October Courtyard is a day centre for adults at the more severe end of the autism spectrum, designed to serve its users, their families, and the staff who support them.

The project was developed with the lived experience of the user as its central axis, drawing inspiration from local context and culture. Design for users with autism was the primary focus, from the form and layout of the building to the materials, the surrounding landscape, and the details that shape their daily lives.

The main source of the proposal is the traditional Cypriot courtyard. In local vernacular architecture, the courtyard forms the spatial core of the dwelling: private, predictable, naturally ventilated, and well-lit. For a centre serving adults with severe autism, these qualities carry direct therapeutic value. The courtyard provides a safe, bounded outdoor space accessible from every room, filters natural light, creates natural ventilation, and its geometric clarity produces the spatial legibility upon which users depend.

The building presents a calm, uninterrupted horizontal line to the street. Spatial complexity is entirely internal, revealed gradually as users move through the building. The roof grades along the building in section. Spaces with high sensory stimulation have the greatest ceiling height. Spaces with low stimulation are compressed in scale, bringing the space closer to the user. The transition is felt rather than seen, a landscape calibrated to the sensory demands of the programme and its users.