Breezeway

Breezeways connecting two buildings of the Main Street Complex in Voorhees, New Jersey

A breezeway is an architectural feature similar to a hallway that allows the passage of a breeze between structures to accommodate high winds, allow aeration, or provide aesthetic design variation.

Often, a breezeway is a simple roof connecting two structures (such as a house and a garage); sometimes, it can be much more like a tunnel with windows on either side. It may also refer to a hallway between two wings of a larger building – such as between a house and a garage – that lacks heating and cooling but allows sheltered passage. Breezeways have been used to house restaurants as well.

Types

There are three types of breezeways in residential homes, contained, funneled, and offset. A contained breezeway runs beneath a gable roof that separates two areas, commonly a garage and a home. This type occurs more in less formal residential homes because of their practical application and function as a roofed area. A funneled breezeway occurs when a garage and a home are faced towards each other. The accompanying roof allows for some privacy that opens up into a larger backyard or deck area. An offset breezeway grants access to both the garage and house by being an extension of the house that ends up suspending over an exit of the garage area.

Examples

One of the earliest breezeway designs to be architecturally designed and published was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1900 for the B. Harley Bradley House in Kankakee, Illinois. However, breezeway features had come into use in vernacular architecture long before this, as for example with the dogtrot breezeway that originally connected the two elements of a double log cabin on the North American frontier.

Hawaiian State Capitol Breezeway

The Breezeway House is a good example of proper instillation in modern architecture. It uses sliding wooden framed glass doors to open up space, creating natural ventilation and cooling throughout the quarters.

The Hawaiian State Capitol is another example of an open air building that utilizes the breezeway technique. Inspired by local architecture, it allows wind, rain and sun to enter the space. The center of the building remains without walls and a ceiling to let the sunlight reach the floor.

A side-deck is the upper deck outboard of any structure such as a coachroof or doghouse, also called a breezeway.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Business coming to Barista's breezeway". Golden State Newspapers. Retrieved 2018-09-05.
  2. ↑ Butt, Aaron (2014-01-08). "Three Ways for Breezeways". Fine Homebuilding. Retrieved 2026-10-24.
  3. ↑ EscapeSF. "House Plans With Breezeway: The Ultimate Guide To Architectural Versatility". EscapeSF. Retrieved 2026-10-22.
  4. ↑ "Hawaii State Capitol". Architectuul. Retrieved 2026-10-23.