ROMAN

ARCHITECTURE
 Historical Background

LOCATION
 Roman architecture refers to the architecture of Rome
and of the Roman Empire.
 The Roman Empire was one of the largest early empires
in history, stretching from England in Northern Europe to
the Ancient Near East and Africa.
 The pink area of the Map shows the greatest extent of
the Roman Empire.
 Rome, located on the Italian peninsula was the capital of
the empire.
 From the capital, an infrastructure of roads and
communication systems was established to connect the
whole empire.
 
 GREEK vs ROMAN

 Greek and Roman Architecture were similar in that both utilized

Doric, Ionic and Corinthian columns in their structures.
 Greek buildings were much like works of art, very decorative on the
outside and rather plain inside whereas the Romans designed their
buildings to be beautiful on the inside as well as the outside.
 The Greek architecture was primarily centered around constructing
buildings to serve as “temples to the god”where as the romans
used them as gathering places for the masses and places to hold
meetings for the public .
 The Romans were more skilled in engineering techniques than were
the Greeks.
 GREEK vs ROMAN

As an another example of the differences

between Greek and Roman architecture is the
variation in columns by the Romans.
They added a base to the Doric column used by
the Greeks (for example in the Parthenon) and
then added ornamentation as well.
Additionally, the Romans invented a style of
column on their own by combining different
styles of columns like the Corinthian column with
a portion of the Ionic Greek style column.
 MATERIALS &CONSTRUCTION
SYSTEMS
 Romans construction material consists of Stone,
principally local travertine and timber.
 Roman also invented a system of firing brick
and used brick widely in construction.
 Romans were also the first people to discover
concrete; Roman concrete is different from our
present day concrete.
 Romans made significant improvements to the
arch to address its shortcoming.
 MATERIALS &CONSTRUCTION
SYSTEMS
 They also developed new construction systems
based on the arch and dome.
 The combination of arch and vault construction
with brick as formwork and concrete as bonding
material enabled the Romans to construct great
buildings with very large interior space.
 The combination also freed them from the use of
rectangular ground plans and allowed them to
achieve new plan forms.
 MATERIALS &CONSTRUCTION
SYSTEMS
 Roman construction also developed the
system of wooden truss construction.
 Most Roman architects were either of
Greek origin or Greek trained; architects
however moved from place to place,
thereby ensuring some uniformity in
architectural practices over the whole
empire.
 MATERIALS &CONSTRUCTION
SYSTEMS
 In Roman architecture, the orders survived
simply as ornaments applied to great concrete
buildings.
 The Romans also made unique additions to the
orders that are very important.
 Romans also made additions in the entablature
of temples, in the scale of buildings and the
proportion of the entire design.
 The Greek and Roman architecture are together
considered as classical architecture.
 MATERIALS &CONSTRUCTION
SYSTEMS
Roman buildings include:
 bathhouses for bathing,
 circuses for racing,
 amphitheatres for gladiatorial contest,
 temples for religion,
 domus for family life and
 the forum as the center of public life and
national commerce.
Doric
Style  of Roman Columns

Ionic
Style  of Roman Columns

Corinthian
Style  of Roman Columns
 
 Purpose of Ancient Roman
Columns
 The purpose of  Roman columns in structural engineering is
to provide a vertical structural element that transmits,
through compression, the weight of the structure above to
other structural elements below.
 Roman columns were therefore often used to  support
beams or arches on which the upper parts of buildings,
walls or ceilings rest.
 Roman Columns enabled the ancient Romans to build
bridges, aqueducts, sewers, amphitheatres, and triumphal
arches, as well as temples and palaces. The application of
Roman Columns extend to to various other parts of
buildings where economy of material and labor was desired.
 It was applied extensively to doorways and windows and is
an ornament as well as a utility.
 Description of Roman Columns
 Columns are vertical, upright pillars.
 Columns may provide support or simply be
purely decorative.
 The lower portion of a column is called the base
or stylobate.
 The middle section is called the shaft.
 The upper portion of a column is called the
capital.
 The area which the column supports is called
the entablature.
 TUSCAN ORDER
 The Tuscan order has a
very plain design, with a
plain shaft, and a simple
capital, base, and frieze.
 It is a simplified
adaptation of the Doric
order by the Romans.
 The Tuscan order is
characterized by
(1) an unfluted shaft
(2) a capital
(3) an abacus.
 TUSCAN ORDER
 In proportions it is
similar to the Doric
order, but overall it is
significantly plainer.
 The column is
normally seven
diameters high.
 Compared to the
other orders, the
Tuscan order looks
the most solid.
The Tuscan Order which is the simplest of all the orders, is distinguished by
the following:
Plain entablature
A plain astragal (without bead-and-reel) ringed the column beneath its plain
cap beneath the architrave
Plain capital
Unfluted column
Unadorned base
 Composite order
 The Composite order is a
mixed order, combining the
volutes of the Ionic with the
leaves of the Corinthian
order.
 Until the Renaissance it was
not ranked as a separate
order but was considered as
a late Roman form of the
Corinthian order.
 The column of the Composite
order is ten diameters high.
 In the Roman Doric the height of the
entablature has been reduced.
 columns are slightly less robust in their
proportions.
 Below their caps, an astragal molding
encircles the column like a ring. Crown
moldings soften transitions between frieze and
cornice and emphasize the upper edge of the
abacus, which is the upper part of the capital.
 Roman Doric columns also have moldings
at their bases and stand on low square
pads or are even raised on plinths.
 In the Roman Doric mode, columns are
not invariably fluted.
 The Ionic order, invented by the Asiatic
Greeks is more graceful, though not so
imposing as the Doric style. The capital is
more ornamented than the Doric. The
shaft is fluted and more slender. The Ionic
Roman columns are characterized by the
capital which is formed with two opposed
volutes (spiral scrolls). The second level of
the arches at the Colosseum are framed
by half columns of the Ionic order.
 The most ornate of the three main orders of
classical Greek architecture. The Corinthian
order exhibits a greater refinement and elegance
than the other two styles of columns. The
Corinthian Roman columns are characterized by
slender fluted columns. The capital have an
almost bell-shaped capital decorated with
acanthus leaves. Corinthian Roman columns
were often surmounted by a more ornamented
entablature. The third level of the arches at the
Colosseum are framed by half columns of the
Corinthian order or style.
 Colomns in collosseums
 The architecture of the Colosseum is dominated by its
sheer size and the height of the different levels of the
Colosseum is created by the use of different columns on
each of the three main levels. The arches of the
Colosseum are framed by half-columns of the Doric,
Ionic, and Corinthian orders. The first level is 34 ft high
and the Doric arches are 23 ft high and 14 ft wide. The
second level, in the Ionic "order" or style, is 38 ft high
and the arches measure 21 ft high and 14 ft wide and
the third level, in the Corinthian style, is 37 ft high with
the arches being 21 ft high and 14 ft wide. The fourth or
top level of the Colosseum is 45 ft high and had no
arches.