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¶ … Roman public architecture contained elements derived from both Greek and Etruscan traditions. Spatially, Roman architecture shows a development from closed, simple space units and regular articulation to more complex spatial relations, more fluid interpenetration of spaces, and more rhythmic organization of space and mass. New materials, such as concrete with brick and stone facing and marble veneers, sculptural decoration, and walls painted with illustration helped to further enhance the early Roman architecture.
A characteristic feature of Roman design was the combined use of arcuated and trabeated construction. Although at first tentatively employed in the spaces between the classical columns, the arch eventually came to be the chief structural element. Flanking columns, usually engaged and superimposed served merely as buttresses or for decoration. The building of Roman architecture was aided after the invention of concrete. Using this material, architects covered vast interior spaces with vaults of increasing complexity and without interior supports. These included the barrel vault, the cross or groined vault, and the dome. Vault buttresses, instead of forming exterior projections, became an integral part of the interior support system.
One example of early Roman architecture using the vault...
Over 160 ft high with eighty entrances, the Coliseum could hold upwards of 50,000 spectators. The facade was limestone, brick and concrete with marble facing. Barrel vaults radiated from the elliptical center. The weight was carried on travertine piers and vaults. The lower tiers were marble, with wood on the upper tiers.
The Coliseum consisted of four stories; its arches were framed by superimposed orders: Roman Dorie on the ground floor, Ionic on the second, Corinthian on the third, and the fourth story consisted of Corinthian pilasters. It also carried masts which suspended an awning to protect the spectators from the sunlight. The walls on the outside were made of travertine, while the inner walls were made of siliceous rock deposits and the vaulting of the ramped seating area was made of concrete.
The Coliseum boasted seats of marble for the upper class, and benches of wood for the lower. Ramps within the arena made movement easy by the large crowds, and on a catwalk suspended above, trained archers were watchful and would shoot to avert disaster when an enraged animal would get out of hand. A wall about 15 feet high separated the spectators from the bloody events in the arena.
The characteristics used in the building of the coliseum, including the…
Daniel J. Boorstin, (1992) explains how Romans made use of marble, concrete and bricks to hold their structures together, "By the time of Augustus, marble, used in Roman buildings mainly in slabs for facing or in decorative fragments for mosaics or pavements, was a material more cosmetic than structural. Like stucco, it covered a solid core of brick and concrete. Yet it was concrete that made Rome's grand and distinctive
The city became filled with triumphal arches commemorating great victories of generals and emperors, like the Triumphal Arches of Titus, Constantine, and Septimus. Thus, in contrast to ancient Greece, civic leaders as well as the gods were consecrated in images near every public dwelling. Roman building materials were also different. Unlike the Greeks, Roman builders could not use marble all the time, because it had become expensive. But the Romans
St. Madeleine Church Roman Architecture Romanesque art and architecture was the true depiction of mediaeval Christian art and was in full boom in the 12th century. The term Romanesque, points to the principal source of the style and the buildings of the Roman Empire. In addition to classical elements, however, Roman church architecture is derived from components of Byzantine and Eastern origin. French Architecture French Romanesque architecture is characterized by (French Architecture) 1 various
The importance of the previous site to the locals is evidence in the fact that parts of that older building were "built into the terrace wall," ("Aegina, Temple of Aphaia (Building)"). The Temple of Portuna was built of different materials than the Greek temple, out of "tufa and travertine blocks which had been originally been coated with a fine layer of stucco," (Sullivan). What is significant from the context
From approximately 1930 until the 1980s, rectangular and functional spaces were the chief form of architecture around the world in general. The latter part of the 20th century -- the 1980s onward -- saw change once again, however (2008). For the most part, 20th century architecture, however, "focused on machine aesthetics or functionality and failed to incorporate any ornamental accents in the structure" (2008). The designs were, for the
Paul's Cathedral, the work of England's most renown architect Christopher Wren (1632 -- 1723). Wren, a mathematical genius and highly-skilled engineer, built and designed this massive building, highlighted by its magnificent dome, after the Great Fire of 1666 which destroyed the old structure. According to Nikolaus Pevsner, St. Paul's Cathedral "is a splendid skyline composition with the two foreground towers acting effectively as foils to the great dome. The