Courtyard Fence Where Lighting is Permitted

I live in an improvised building with very small housing units, and each couple lives in their own unit. However, there is no room for a laundry room inside the unit, and on the ground floor, there is a lobby where the neighbors' washing and drying machines are placed, and everyone does laundry there. This entrance hall is open to the street. In such a case, is the building entrance considered the entrance to the courtyard, and can candles be lit there according to all opinions, or is it still preferable to light at the window?

Even in cases where the courtyard or stairwell is used for residential purposes, as is sometimes found in dormitories or in the building you described, it is preferable to light at the window.

Shabbat (21b) dispute of Rashi (there d.h. מבחוץ) and Tosafot (there d.h. מצוה); Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim, Siman 671, Paragraph 5); Beur Halacha (there d.h. פתח החצר); Azmera Leshimcha bulletin (Issue 117). Regarding the Chanukah candle, we do not find anywhere a law that the courtyard must be used for residential purposes, and therefore, according to the aforementioned Tosafot opinion, as well as the ruling of the Shulchan Aruch (Siman 671, Paragraph 5), even in our times when the courtyard is not used for residential purposes, it still has the status of a courtyard, and it is permissible to initially light at the entrance of the building. Only regarding Eruv and Mezuzah did the Chazon Ish write (Eruvin, Siman 90, Letter 23; Mezuzah, Siman 168, Letter 6) that there is no law of the courtyard in our time, since in the times of Chazal, courtyards were used for laundry, cooking, and baking, which is not the case in our time. (See Rashi, Bava Batra 2a, d.h. השותפין). The reason the Chazon Ish believed one should light at the window is due to concern for Rashi's opinion, as discussed in the Beur Halacha.