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Roman engineering
Roman architecture was distinctive because it brought highly developed engineering skills to bear on large-scale buildings. The Romans made huge strides in engineering, building great aqueducts, large temples, amphitheatres and other structures, some of which are still standing. They did this with the help of materials such as concrete and with innovative structures such as vaults and domes.
The Romans borrowed heavily from the Greeks in many aspects of their culture, and their architecture was no exception. They built temples that looked like Greek temples, surrounding them with rows of columns built according to the orders. But the Romans made advances in engineering and building technology, and it is in these areas that they developed some of the most long-lived architectural ideas.
Roman concrete : Probably their most influential idea was concrete, which is easy to think of as a modern invention even though it has been around since Roman times. In fact it was not strictly a Roman ideaboth the ancient Greeks and the people of Campania (the part of southern Italy where Greeks and Etruscans had settled) were using mortar in their stone walls at least as far back as the fourth century BC. But the Romans were good at picking up an idea and running with it, and that is what they did with concrete.
It was the perfect material for a fast-growing empire, where buildings needed to be put up at speed. When they wanted to build a thick, solid wall quickly, Roman builders used a mixture of rubble mixed with concrete, facing it with brick or dressed stones - the result was cheap, fast to build and very strong. Concrete was also ideal for building the curved shapes - especially those of vaults and domes - that the Romans liked so much. And the Romans developed a way of making a very special kind of fast-setting, water-resistant concrete that was ideal for building bridge piers.
Roman vault-building
Creating the precise curves needed to build a vault is a difficult business, especially if you only have stones and ordinary mortar to build with. You have to put up supporting timber formwork, known as centring, cut each stone very carefully and precisely and then lay the stones carefully on top of the timber Only long afterwards, when the mortar has set hard, can the centring be removed. With concrete, however, the centring could be much lighter in weight and there was less skill involved in building the vault above it. Since the concrete set quickly, the centring could be removed sooner and the job finished faster.
Pozzolana : Concrete has been described as a mortar that is mixed with small stones to create a solid, hard mass. It is normally made up of three elements: the aggregate (sand plus stones), the cement (a binding material) and water. The magic was in the binding material, and the Romans discovered an especially effective one - a mixture of lime and a type of volcanic ash known as pozzolana.
Pozzolana came from the hills around the Bay of Naples, the area known as Puteoli or Pozzuoli. The Romans regarded pozzolana with awe and there are descriptions of its properties in the writings of both Pliny (Natural History 35.166) and Vitruvius, who, in his treatise on architecture, points out its key qualities: 'This material, when mixed with lime and rubble, not only furnishes strength to other buildings, but also, when piers are built in the sea, they set under water.' And Vitruvius was right. Roman concrete is so strong that, a thousand years after they were built, and after the masonry facing has been robbed or weathered away, the concrete cores of many Roman buildings still survive.
Spanning rivers : So concrete made with pozzolana was ideal for bridge building. This was important because stone bridges were very difficult to build without fast-setting concrete. In fact, most bridges before the Romans were either very small-scale stone-dapper bridges across streams or wooden structures that had a limited life. So Roman concrete transformed bridge building.
Arches and domes : But its usefulness went further than this, taking Roman architecture in directions unthought of by the Greeks. In particular, it was ideal for creating structures that were curved. Domed buildings, such as the great temple of the Pantheon in Rome or the vast imperial bath-houses, vaulted buildings such as the Romans' great basilicas and all' types of arched structures, were made much more feasible with the use of concrete.
None of these structures was a Roman invention- the Greeks had built domes and vaults before the rise of Rome. But what was significant was the way the Romans extended and developed their use, creating vast domes, such as the one roofing the Pantheon, and huge arched structures. It was the Romans, devoted to building and determined to make ever larger and more magnificent monuments, who made these types of structures into great architectural ideas and developed their huge potential. They transformed the architectural scene.
The Pantheon
One of the greatest of all Roman buildings is the Pantheon, a temple to all the gods, built in the centre of Rome itself. The Pantheon is a circular building roofed with a dome and the interior of the dome, with its pattern of recessed squares (an effect called coffering) is stunningly beautiful. None of this could have been achieved without the careful use of concrete, the main material of the dome. In particular, the builders varied the aggregate used in the concrete, using heavy travertine and tufa for the foundation and the walls up to the first cornice; lighter brick and tufa for the next level; then brick alone; and finally in the topmost part of the dome an even lighter material, volcanic pumice.
Roman architecture was distinctive because it brought highly developed engineering skills to bear on large-scale buildings. The Romans made huge strides in engineering, building great aqueducts, large temples, amphitheatres and other structures, some of which are still standing. They did this with the help of materials such as concrete and with innovative structures such as vaults and domes.
The Romans borrowed heavily from the Greeks in many aspects of their culture, and their architecture was no exception. They built temples that looked like Greek temples, surrounding them with rows of columns built according to the orders. But the Romans made advances in engineering and building technology, and it is in these areas that they developed some of the most long-lived architectural ideas.
Roman concrete : Probably their most influential idea was concrete, which is easy to think of as a modern invention even though it has been around since Roman times. In fact it was not strictly a Roman ideaboth the ancient Greeks and the people of Campania (the part of southern Italy where Greeks and Etruscans had settled) were using mortar in their stone walls at least as far back as the fourth century BC. But the Romans were good at picking up an idea and running with it, and that is what they did with concrete.
It was the perfect material for a fast-growing empire, where buildings needed to be put up at speed. When they wanted to build a thick, solid wall quickly, Roman builders used a mixture of rubble mixed with concrete, facing it with brick or dressed stones - the result was cheap, fast to build and very strong. Concrete was also ideal for building the curved shapes - especially those of vaults and domes - that the Romans liked so much. And the Romans developed a way of making a very special kind of fast-setting, water-resistant concrete that was ideal for building bridge piers.
Roman vault-building
Creating the precise curves needed to build a vault is a difficult business, especially if you only have stones and ordinary mortar to build with. You have to put up supporting timber formwork, known as centring, cut each stone very carefully and precisely and then lay the stones carefully on top of the timber Only long afterwards, when the mortar has set hard, can the centring be removed. With concrete, however, the centring could be much lighter in weight and there was less skill involved in building the vault above it. Since the concrete set quickly, the centring could be removed sooner and the job finished faster.
Pozzolana : Concrete has been described as a mortar that is mixed with small stones to create a solid, hard mass. It is normally made up of three elements: the aggregate (sand plus stones), the cement (a binding material) and water. The magic was in the binding material, and the Romans discovered an especially effective one - a mixture of lime and a type of volcanic ash known as pozzolana.
Pozzolana came from the hills around the Bay of Naples, the area known as Puteoli or Pozzuoli. The Romans regarded pozzolana with awe and there are descriptions of its properties in the writings of both Pliny (Natural History 35.166) and Vitruvius, who, in his treatise on architecture, points out its key qualities: 'This material, when mixed with lime and rubble, not only furnishes strength to other buildings, but also, when piers are built in the sea, they set under water.' And Vitruvius was right. Roman concrete is so strong that, a thousand years after they were built, and after the masonry facing has been robbed or weathered away, the concrete cores of many Roman buildings still survive.
Spanning rivers : So concrete made with pozzolana was ideal for bridge building. This was important because stone bridges were very difficult to build without fast-setting concrete. In fact, most bridges before the Romans were either very small-scale stone-dapper bridges across streams or wooden structures that had a limited life. So Roman concrete transformed bridge building.
Arches and domes : But its usefulness went further than this, taking Roman architecture in directions unthought of by the Greeks. In particular, it was ideal for creating structures that were curved. Domed buildings, such as the great temple of the Pantheon in Rome or the vast imperial bath-houses, vaulted buildings such as the Romans' great basilicas and all' types of arched structures, were made much more feasible with the use of concrete.
None of these structures was a Roman invention- the Greeks had built domes and vaults before the rise of Rome. But what was significant was the way the Romans extended and developed their use, creating vast domes, such as the one roofing the Pantheon, and huge arched structures. It was the Romans, devoted to building and determined to make ever larger and more magnificent monuments, who made these types of structures into great architectural ideas and developed their huge potential. They transformed the architectural scene.
The Pantheon
One of the greatest of all Roman buildings is the Pantheon, a temple to all the gods, built in the centre of Rome itself. The Pantheon is a circular building roofed with a dome and the interior of the dome, with its pattern of recessed squares (an effect called coffering) is stunningly beautiful. None of this could have been achieved without the careful use of concrete, the main material of the dome. In particular, the builders varied the aggregate used in the concrete, using heavy travertine and tufa for the foundation and the walls up to the first cornice; lighter brick and tufa for the next level; then brick alone; and finally in the topmost part of the dome an even lighter material, volcanic pumice.
