A.R 2.6 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE - 1
1.Ancient Civilisations (Egypt, Mesopotamia & Indus) - pre summer break
2.Classical Greeks - pre summer break
3.The Roman Empire - 17 & 24 June 2016
4.The Rise of European & Arabic Worlds - 22 July 2016
5. Clash of Ideologies Science vs Religion vs Faith - 28 July 2016
6.Pre Industrial Revolution - 5 August 2016
7. Activity - Field Trip?!
LECTURE DATES
15 July 2016

A.R 2.6 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE - 1
1. Roman Architecture - grand scale of architecture, new materials &
building technology, Public Infrastructure, different typology of buildings
COURSE CONTENT: POST SUMMER BREAK
• Roman Architecture has a rich typology that includes:
• Religious building: temple
• Civil buildings:
–Public: basilicas, baths
–Spectacles: theatre, amphitheatre, circus
–Commemorative: Triumph arch, column
–Domestic: house, village, palace
–Funerary: tombs
• Engineering works:
–Bridges
–Aqueducts

Date: 15 July 2016
Abhinand Gopal
THE MAJESTIC ROMANS - II

THINGS TO LEARN ABOUT
ROMAN ARCHITECTURE - II
▸ Vitruvius Concepts
▸ Concepts of Arches & Vaults - construction techniques
▸ Pantheon - plan, elevation, section, importance
▸ Column Orders: Composite & Tuscan
▸ Town Planning
▸ Public Infrastructure: Aqueducts, Baths, Roads
▸ Communications & Defences
▸ Theatres & Entertainment

HOMINID SPECIES
TIMELINE OF HUMAN CIVILISATION
▸ Palaeolithic age ‘old stone age’ (4.5 million years to 10000 BC)
▸ Mesolithic Age ‘middle stone age’ (10,000 BC - 6800 BC)
▸ Neolithic Age ‘new stone age’ (6800 BC - 3000 BC)
▸ Bronze Age (3000 BC - 1200 BC)
▸ Iron Age (1200 BC - 1 AD)
▸ Middle Ages (1 AD - 1453 AD)
▸ Renaissance (1453 - 1700 AD)
▸ Industrial Revolution (1700 - 1914 AD)
▸ Modern (from 20th century - 1990s)
▸ Digital Age (1990s to present)

What’s the population of Earth?

The largest city in the world with a population of 1 million

present day international boundaries showing countries in Europe

Population City Size
Density
(per sq. km)
1. Tokyo 3.4 crore 8,547 sq kms 4,300
4. Delhi +
NCR
2.3 crore 1,943 sq kms 11,500
13. Mumbai 1.7 Crore 550 sq kms 30,900
16. Dhaka 1.5 Crore 360 sq kms 44,000
Taken from: DEMOGRAPHIA WORLD URBAN AREAS 2012 Edition
Population v/s density v/s city size

what did they possess to rule the vast territories?

PLACES
ITALY
1.Sicily
2.Rome
3.Florence
4.Pisa
5.Milan
6.Venice

NATURAL FACTORS
GEOGRAPHY & CLIMATE
▸ Mediterranean climate.
▸ Unique geography with
multiple variations
▸ Apennines running all
along the peninsula
▸ Hot-Dry summers & Rainy-
cool winters
▸ Mainly consists of the
peninsula & the seas
▸ best climate in the world

Italy: a country in the E. Mediterranean Sea made of small islands and having a long indented coastline

physical map of Italy

Iron Age (1250 - 1 AD)
characterised by 1. gender & social bias 2. building marvels & technology 3. economic divide, military
regimes & colonisation

development of Roman Republic- Imperial Empire between 27 BC to 300 AD

FACTORS INFLUENCING HUMAN SOCIETY & ARCHITECTURE
▸ natural factors - geography, geology, climate
▸ civilisation factors - religion, social structure, technology &
history of the group, economy
geography: availability
of water, fertile soil &
natural barriers
geology: building
materials &
construction
climate: building design &
orientation, presence of
fenestrations (doors,
windows)

Jupiter: God of Sky; Juno: wide of Jupiter, councillor of Rome; Neptune: god of the Sea & horses;
Minerva: daughter of Zeus & Hera; Apollon: Sun God; Diana: goddess of Hunting; Mars: God of War, Venus:
Goddess of Love
ROMANS WORSHIPPED A PANTHEON OF 12 GODS

Roman Gods derived from Greek Myths

Roman Social Hierarchy

FACTORS INFLUENCING HUMAN SOCIETY & ARCHITECTURE
▸ natural factors - geography, geology, climate
▸ civilisation factors - history of the group, social
structure,religion, building typologies & construction
techniques

MINERALS, COMMUNICATIONS & INFRASTRUCTURE

acquired major territories from Macedonian Wars (against Greek states) & Punic Wars
(against Carthage)
Roman Republic (500 BC - 27 BC): establishment of Rome to rule of Augustus Caesar (known as
Octavius Caesar), nephew of Julius Caesar
Roman Empire (27 BC - 311AD): ruled in the name of Emperor till the split of Roman Empire into
west & east empires. East headed by ‘Constantinople’
TIMELINE OF ROMAN CIVILIZATION

ROMAN CALENDAR

DURING THE REIGN OF JULIUS CAESAR AND POMPEII

NEW BUILDING
MATERIALS
“AUGUSTUS CHANGED
ROME FROM A CITY OF
STONE TO MARBLE”
‣ The first use of concrete in Rome is
credited to the discovery of
Pozzolona sand near Naples
‣ It acts a cement for it’s binding
properties

Vitruvius explaining to Emperor Augustus about building public infrastructure using his own concepts
Vitruvius, was a Roman author, architect, civil engineer and military engineer during
the 1st century BC, known for his multi-volume work entitled De architectura.

D’ ARCHITECTURA
BEAUTY - STRUCTURE- FUNCTION
‣ first discusses the classical orders
of the Greek civilisation
‣ the need for system of proportions
‣ "triad" of characteristics
associated with architecture:
utilitas, firmitas and venustas
(commodity, firmness and delight)
‣ beauty (section): to understand
aesthetics of the time
‣ structure (elevation): building
materials used & construction
technique
‣ function (plan): to understand the
spaces better

Archamedian Screw Principle

PROPORTIONS
fibonacci series || Golden Ratio

• Cities were the centre of
Roman life
– Need for infrastructures
• Water and sewer system
• Transport and defence
• Public spaces and markets
– Psychological effect: power
and control
• There was a need of linking
them throug paved roads
• The rest of the space was
divided into squares in
which insulae or blocks of
flats were built

TEXT

• The most
important part of
the city was the
forum, where
political,
economic,
administrative,
social and
religious activity
were centred.
• Main buildings
were in this
forum
• In big cities there
were theatres,
circuses,
stadiums, odeons.

• Forums were cultural centres in
cities.
• They were often placed at the
crossroads of important urban
ways: cardo maximus and
decumanus.
• A great porticated square was
the centre of a group of buildings
around it.
• They were communicated
through it.
• Temples for Imperial worship,
schools, basilicae, markets or
even termae had a direct access
through forum.
• In many cases even buildings for
spectacles -circus, theatres and
amphitheatres- were
communicated so.
• Forums were a way in for
important persons to tribunals.

Houses: Insulae
• There are urban houses
• In order to take advantage
from the room in cities,
buildings up to four floors
were constructed.
• The ground floor was for
shops -tabernae- and the
others for apartments of
different sizes.
• Every room was
communicated through a
central communitarian patio
decorated with flowers or
gardens.

TEXT

Houses: Domus
• It was the usual housing for important people in each city.
• It was endowed with a structure based on distribution through
porticated patios:
– the entry -fauces- gives access to
– a small corridor -vestibulum-.
– It leads to a porticated patio -atrium-.
– Its center, the impluvium, is a bank for the water falling from the
compluvium.
– At both sides -alae- there are many chambers used as rooms for service
slaves, kitchens and latrines.
– At the bottom, the tablinum or living-room can be found, and close to
it, the triclinium or dining-room.
– This atrium gave also light enough to next rooms.
– At both sides of the tablinum, little corridors led to the noble part of
the domus.
– Second porticated patio peristylium, was bigger and endowed with a
central garden.
– It was surrounded by rooms -cubiculum- and marked by an exedra
used as a chamber for banquets or social meetings.

Religious: Temple
• It copied the Greek model
• It has only one portico and
a main façade
• It tends to be
pseudoperiptero
• The cella is totally closed
• It is built on a podium
• Instead of having stairs all
around, it only has them in
the main façade

Religious: Temple
• There were other kind of
temples:
• Circular: similar to the
Greek tholos
• Pantheon: combined
squared and circular
structures and was in
honour of all gods.

TEXT

Civil Buildings: Baths
• There were spaces for
public life
• They consisted of different
rooms:
• Changing rooms
– Different temperature rooms:
• Frigidarium (cold)
• Tepidarium (warm)
• Caldarium (hot)
– Swimming pool
– Gymnasium
– Library

BATHS

Caracalla´s Bath House

CONCEPT OF ARCHES

TEXT

waterducts
• Roman engineers were true
masters building them, since
constructions were essential
elements for reaching places
and cities often situated at the
bank of rivers.
• This location was due to
defensive and infrastructural
reasons -supply and drainage.
• They are characterised by:
– Not pointed arches.
– Constructions of ashlars
masonry often with pad
shape.
– Route of more than 5 m.
wide.
– Route of horizontal or
slightly combed surface
"few curved".
– Rectangular pillars from
their basis with lateral
triangular or circular
cutwaters that end before
the railings.

TEXT

TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENTS

• Aqueducts were built in
order to avoid geographic
irregularities between
fountains or rivers and
towns.
• Not only valleys were
crossed by superposed
cannels, but also
mountains were excavated
by long tunnels, pits and
levels of maintenance.
• They were used to bring
water to cities.

Communications & Defenses

CIVILISATION FACTORS
REPUBLIC & MILITARY
▸ believed in polytheism
▸ primary worship of triad Gods
▸ managed the affairs of the Republic
through represented officials
▸ change from military primitive army
strategies which were successful on
plains to the formation of legions, to
fight in hilly regions.
▸ every citizen were given basic rights
to raise up hierarchy if showed talent

TEXT

TEXT

TEXT

PEOPLE BEYOND THE WALL
HADRIAN’S WALL
▸ First wall to create a
long barrier
▸ Like Great Wall of
China made by the
Ming dynasty
majorly.

• Material combinations in walls:
• Walls were made in one of these ways:
Ashlar Masonry Brick

• Defence of cities has been
one of the capital problems
that civilizations had to
solve in order to project the
future of their citizens,
goods, culture and ways of
life.
• Romans were the first in
the technique of improving
different kinds of defence,
using walls.

WATCHTOWERS BARRICADES & GATEWAYS

Ports and Lighthouses

• Roman ships and those for commercial
trade should travel from port to port
with the speed and security adequate to
the life of a great Empire.
• In these ports every necessity for the
execution of the usual works in a port
ensemble should be found:
– gateways with stores and bureaux,
– shipyards for stationing ships,
– roads for taking ships to earthly
ground,
– drinkable water fountains and
– machinery for loading and
downloading merchandises.
• Indeed, a system of indication was
necessary in order to mark the right
access and exit to the port.

• Paved roads were needed to
reach to any point of the empire
• They facilitated both
communication and political
control

• The roads were not completely flat
• They consisted of several parts
– The central and highest was the most important, it was
convex to conduct the water to the
– Ditches that were built in the sides
Paved Roads
• The roads were made with strong foundations
• Different materials were put into different layers
• To meassure the distance they created the Milliarium
or stones located in the sides
Section of a Roman paved road

ROMAN ROAD IN SYRIA

ANCIENT ROMAN ROAD IN AFRICA

Spectacles: Theatre
• It is similar to the Greek but it
is not located in a mountain
but it is completely built
• It has a semicircular scenery
• The doors to facilitate peoples’
movement are called vomitoria
• It does not have the orchestra
because in Roman plays was
not a chorus
• The rest of the parts are similar
to those of the Greek theatre

Merida’s Roman Theatre

Spectacles: Amphitheatre
• It comes from the fusion
of two theatres
• It was the place for
spectacles with animals
and fights (gladiators)
• There could be filled
with water for naval
battles.

TEXT

Spectacles: Circus
• It was a building for horse races and cuadriga
competitions.
• It has the cavea, the area and a central element to turn
around, the spina.

TEXT

TEXT

TEXT

Sketches Required for UNIT 3 Roman Architecture:
Buildings of Roman Civilisation:
1. Map of Italy & major important cities/regions
2. Etruscan Temple: plan, elevation & section
3. Tuscan Order with details and compare analysis with Greek Column
4. Find out about Composite Order and draw the column with necessary details
5. Study briefly about the ten books of Architecture written by Vitruvius
6. Explain Roman Roads & Aqueducts through sketches.
7. Draw architectural sketches of any 4 building typologies
Mode of Submission: A3 sketch books
Submission Date: 22 July 2016
Movies recommended for better visual understanding of Roman Civilisation: Gladiator, Rome (tv series),
Spartacus, Ben Hur, Julius Caesar (Novel), Cleopatra, Asterix & Obelisk, Passion of the Christ etc.

INFERENCES
▸ aquaducts: https://ancientwatertechnologies.com/
2012/12/10/aqueducts-of-rome/
▸ http://www.ancient.eu/aqueduct/
▸ http://www.maquettes-historiques.net/P18G.html
▸ http://ancientrome.ru/art/artworken/art-search-e.htm
▸ http://www.romeacrosseurope.com/?
p=2446#sthash.yWi70Na2.dpbs
▸ https://tapluan.wordpress.com/category/kien-truc/kien-truc-
the-gioi/