Imperial Rome and the Making of an Architectural Revolutionin Classical Architecture

I. Roman primacy of the curve before the Empire A. Making architectural curves possible: parts of the arch in stone or brick masonry; difference

between arch and vault; monolithic concrete vault

I. Roman primacy of the curve before the Empire  A. Making architectural curves possible: parts of a true arch in stone or brick masonry; difference between arch and vault; monolithic concrete vault

true arch constructing an arcadeparts of a true arch

I. A.

arch barrel vault concrete barrel vault

I. B. For what types of buildings were concrete arches and vaults common before the Empire?

amphitheaters & theaters

baths

warehouses

shops

aqueducts

substructures of terraced buildings

the rare temple cella (Temple of Vesta at Tivoli, late 1st cen. BC)

I. C. Why was Roman architecture of the early decades of the Empire conservative (i.e., not very different from the Republican period)?

Capitoline: Temple of Capitoline Jupiter Basilica Julia Basilica Aemilia

Comitium and Senate house

Temple of Castor and

Pollux

Temple of the Vestal Virgins

Basilica Julia

Senate house

Temple of Castor and

PolluxTemple of the Vestal Virgins

Basilica Aemilia

Forum of Julius Caesar Forum of Augustus

Roman Forum in Rome:Republican period

Roman Forum in Rome:early Imperial period

Emperor Augustus (r. 27 BC- AD 14)

Emperor Nero (AD 54-68)

Roman Empire begins27 BC

RomanRepublic

True imperial architecture starts

(vaulted style)

II. Imperial Roman architecture: a new architectural language (and a new style of residence) born from the expressive potential of concrete

Domus Aurea (Golden House of Nero), Rome, Italy, AD 64-68Severus and Celer, architects

Domus Aurea = buildings marked in red

vestibule + atrium w/tri-porticus w/ “ocean”

Oppian Hill pavilion

Domus Aurea (Golden House of Nero), Rome, Italy, AD 64-68Severus and Celer, architects

II.

Octagonal dining hall in the Oppian Hill pavilion

Nero’s Domus Aurea (hypothetical)

124 Augustus’s domus

II. A. Reception of the new house design by contemporaries 1. In the view of the historian (Suetonius), how did Nero’s building projects compare to those of emperor Augustus?

Forum

II. B. Formalism: What is revolutionary about how the Nero’s architects Severus and Celer: 1. changed traditional republican floor plans?

Domus Aurea – octagonal hall looking out

broke tyranny of the 90-degree angle

radiating vistas that emphasize a center

House of Pansa, Pompeii

Domus Aurea – Oppian Hill wing

broke tyranny of the 90-degree angleII. B. 1.

Domus Aurea

curving barrel vaultangled juxtapositions

II. B. 2. changed conventional (republican) expression of load-and-support relationships?

Domus Aurea – octagonal hall

enclosing volumes of the imperial era

Concrete as used in the republic Concrete used to create enclosing volumes

House of Menander, Pompeii

II. B. 3. altered conventional (republican-era) lighting solutions?

Domus Aurea – octagonal hall Indirect lighting in the imperial age

light and space as building “material”

Direct lighting in a republican-era atrium

Domus Aurea – octagonal hallHouse of the Faun, Pompeii, 2nd cen. BC

I. B. 3.

Domus Aurea Domus Aureagroin vault

Domus Aurea

concrete clad in rich colors and textures (marble, stucco, mosaic)

ceilings with moveable parts

moving and still water

I. B. 4. altered familiar (republican) sensory effects?

“using art and squandering the wealth of the emperor created eccentricities which went against the laws of nature” (Tacitus, Annals 15.52)

Domus Aurea, sunlight from the oculus

A. What did Nero say when the Domus Aurea was finished, according to Suetonius?III. Political context: Why this radical change in residential architecture now?

III. B. Suetonius’s judgment in context: To what building typology did Nero’s Golden House really belong, and why did the presence of this typology in the city cause resentment?

Domus AureaFresco of a Roman seaside villa3.

“Rome is being made into a palace” (Suetonius)

III. B.

The Flavian dynasty returns the land to the people:

The Flavian Amphitheater (the Colosseum), AD 72-80

III. B.

The Flavian Amphitheater (the Colosseum), AD 72-80

The Imperial Palace on the Palatine Hill, Rome, AD 96

Forum of Julius Caesar Forum of Augustus

Imperia fora built by Flavian emperors Vespasian and Domitian

Forum and Market of Trajan, Rome, Italy, AD 100-133

IV. Imperial ideology and the architecture of public spaces

Six fora in downtown Rome

IV. A. Trajan’s Forum and political context: Imperial “gift” of civic space 1. Typologies: What were the main buildings, spatial organization, and size and how did it compare to the fora of previous emperors?

Forum of Trajan

IV. A. 1.

IV. A. 1.

Forum of Trajan – Trajan’s Column (historiated column)

Forum of Trajan – the Basilica

IV. A. 2. Formalism: What is the dominant architectural language of Trajan’s Forum?

Forum of Trajan – outdoor pavement

IV. A. 3. Materials: What were the building materials of Trajan’s Forum and how did the exalt empire?

Forum of Trajan – monolithic columns

IV. A. 4. Imperial control: How is autocratic ideology visible in an imperial forum like Trajan’s compared to the Roman Forum of the Republican period?

Forum of Trajan, RomeRoman Forum, Rome

IV. B. The Innovative use of the imperial vaulted style in the “utilitarian” space of Trajan’s Market

Trajan’s Market has 200 rooms and not a single structural column

Trajan’s Market

IV. B. 1. Typology: How has the market typology been modified since Republican Macellum in Pompeii?

Market in the Republican period Trajan’s Markets in Imperial Rome

The Macellum in Pompeii

IV. B. 2. Vaulted style:   a. Reception: What is the possible hierarchical difference embodied in the architectural language of Trajan’s Forum (civic) vs. the Market (commerce)?

Trajan’s Market – the AulaTrajan’s Forum – the Basilica

IV. B. 2. b. Evolution: How did the vaulted style help architects keep the design dynamic?

Trajan’s Market

Trajan’s Market

IV. B. 2. b.

Trajan’s Market

IV. B. 2. b.

IV. B. 2. c. Where is MacDonald’s “secondary system” of décor present in Trajan’s Markets?

Trajan’s Market