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).
Alexander, Christopher. A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction. Oxford University Press, 1977, p. 580.