Roman Building•Greek elements

•Concrete (with marble or mosaic veneer)

•Arch (making possible aqueducts, colosseum, triumphal arches, sewers)

•Use of space – light and soaring structures

•Solid walls and roads (lava stone)

Domus

Basic Traditional Elements

• Atrium – initial room• Compluvium – opening in the ceiling• Impluvium – collection pool for water• Alae – ‘wings’ off the atrium• Tablinum – reception area, back of atrium• Cubiculum – sleeping room• Fauces – entrance hall• Peristyle – open garden behind the atrium with

colonade and rooms around it

Atrium

Domus, continued…

• Doors (Janua) opened inward – bolts and bars and doorkeepers.

• Furniture – lectus, or couch, used for sleeping, reading, writing, conversation, eating.

• Décor used mosaics and wall paintings

Domus

• Faced inward – light and air from the compluvium and peristyle

• No view out – windows are rare• Usually a single floor• Single purpose rooms (e.g. cubiculum, triclinium)

• Sometimes rooms on street opened out and were rented out out as shops (taberna)

Wealthy Domus

Thermae – Public hot baths• Available to everyone – wealthy, poor, slaves• Men and women bathed at different times or in different

areas• Open at noon, often signaled by a gong• Participants usually alternated cold and hot baths, hot first• Strigils (scrappers) used for cleaning, soda for soap,

towels and slaves to assist.• Shavers and depilators available at extra charge• Busiest in the late afternoon – after work and before

dinner

Baths could involve multiple ‘stations’

• Apodyterium – changing room

• Frigidarium – cold bath

• Tepidarium – transit room between hot and cold

• Caldarium – hot bath

Additional features

• Palaestra – room for wrestling or gymnastics

• Unctorium – room for oiling down

• Natorium – open air swimming pool

• Laconicum – hot room for sweating

• Libraries

Bath design

Hypocaust system of heating

The closer to the fire, the warmer the room above and water piped

in.

Public Latrines

Latrines provided with water circulating under the seating holes.

Water also flowed in the trough in front of the seats for rinsing the cleansing sponges

Latrine drawing, cutout, and sponge model

Forum – ‘open space’

• Leveled oblong piece of ground surrounded by buildings – houses, temples, basilicas, or porticoes (markets or courts)

Basilica – State building used as public meeting place/hall of

justice

A basilica used the arch in construction, of course.

Basilica of Constantine

Pattern adapted to later Christian use

• Central great room often with curved ‘apse’ at end

• Columned side halls

Pantheon – ‘All Gods’

• Built during period of the five ‘good’ emperors (Hadrian?)

• Huge domed structure

• Converted to a Christian church in 609

18th century painting of interior

Only light source is the oculus above.