Not a palace in the European sense, Topkapi is a compound of gardens, workshops, government offices, courtyards and residences distributed among four courts.
And John Lee Beatty's photographically detailed school office and courtyard sets would seem to place "Doubt" comfortably in the same tradition.
HSB's tiny office and courtyard, shaded by a mango tree, is situated in the centre of Burkina Faso's hot and dusty capital and is a welcome respite from the 40 degree March heat.
It has a landscaped courtyard, post office branch and five-lane indoor pool.
Located in the post office's former courtyard, the entire space is enclosed by an enormous glass shed roof.
The police station was a small courtyard office, painted blue and white, with a line of police bicycles out front.
"Staff is staff," reiterates Mr. Taylor, whose perquisites as chief of that staff include a $161,800 salary and an office with a courtyard view, the sultry croon of Dinah Washington on the sound system, and single-malt Scotch in the cupboard.
In shot after shot, made through windows and doors, the director suggests a society under surveillance, shunting hurts and desires into ever-deeper recesses, from the street to the back office, from the courtyard to the closed doors of home to the depths of mind revealed in dreams (and he films a superb one).
His sparse office overlooks the courtyard crowded with quiet, stoical but almost expressionless migrants.
They move through the various offices in the courtyard, clockwise.
