Roman Architecture

Question 1

What did the romans and the Greeks have in common

Answer 1

Easy access to the sea was important to their trade and colonisation with other areas

Question 2

What was earlier construction dominated by

Answer 2

Construction of building for religious purposes

Question 3

What was the purpose of the roman buildings

Answer 3

Solving practical problems that were a part of everyone’s lives.

Question 4

What sort of practical buildings did they build

Answer 4

Aqueducts, roads, bridges, sewer systems, public baths and basilicas

Question 5

What did roman aqueducts do

Answer 5

The provided clean drinking water and were connected to indoor sewer systems in order to carry water away from cities. It also supplied water to bath houses

Question 6

What were the roman public baths

Answer 6

Warm water was supplied from underground hot springs, but water had to be heated during the day

Question 7

What was one of Rome’s most important contribution

Answer 7

Development of arches, vaults and domes

Question 8

What did the development of arches, vaults and domes mark

Answer 8

An architectural revolution

Question 9

What was wrong with the post and kingdom system

Answer 9

It placed a lot of strain of the weight of the roof on the columns

Question 10

What did the post and lintel system restrict

Answer 10

The size and height of a building

Question 11

How were domes created

Answer 11

Through the development of arches vaults and cross vaults

Question 12

What was the resale of this building system (using domes, arches and vaults)

Answer 12

The weight was transmitted into the supportive walls, so buildings were not dependant on supporting columns as structural elements anymore. This meant that buildings could be taller and the walls could be thinner.

Question 13

What were columns used for after the invention of the arch

Answer 13

Decorative elements

Question 14

Did the romans invent concrete

Answer 14

No

Question 15

What did the romans do with the materials used to make concrete

Answer 15

They exploited them and developed their own type of concrete with which they produced strong walls

Question 16

What was the first mortar they produced like

Answer 16

It was fast drying, which made building with it difficult.

Question 17

What did the slow-drying mortar help the romans to do

Answer 17

Expand the potential of the use of the arch and the vault to cover larger spaces without any interior space

Question 18

What is the pantheon

Answer 18

A well-preserve temple that was built under instruction of the emperor Hadrian on site of an earlier temple, that was dedicated to all the gods

Question 19

What was the pantheon dedicated to

Answer 19

All the gods

Question 20

What does the front of the pantheon look like

Answer 20

It consists of a traditional rectangular colonnaded porch and a tall middle block

Question 21

What were the 16 columns made from

Answer 21

Red and black Egyptian granite with bases and capitals of which Greek marble.

Question 22

What originally decorate the front pediment

Answer 22

An eagl

Question 23

What were the middle block and the rotunda made out of

Answer 23

Concrete cove rent in marble

Question 24

What do the designs of the main hall in the form of

Answer 24

An enormous rotunda

Question 25

What did the designs of the main hall symbolise

Answer 25

Mathematical harmony

Question 26

How were the designs of the main hall possible to construct

Answer 26

With the availability of slow-drying concrete

Question 27

What is the rotunda a combination of

Answer 27

A circle a cylinder and a sphere.

Question 28

What were the measurements of the cylindrical base

Answer 28

44m

Question 29

What was the height of of the whole structure (rotunda)

Answer 29

44m

Question 30

What does it mean that the dome on the pantheon is a perfect hemisphere

Answer 30

It means that a whole sphere would fit inside the pantheon

Question 31

What is the interior of the pantheon made out of

Answer 31

Geometrical shapes

Question 32

What is the effect on entering the pantheon

Answer 32

It is an experience of vast space

Question 33

What do theniches in the drum wall suggest

Answer 33

A continuity of space beyond it.

Question 34

What are the 7 niches dedicated to

Answer 34

The 7 celestial gods

Question 35

What is each recess flanked by

Answer 35

Two Corinthian pilasters and 4 pairs of massive Corinthian columns echoing the columns used on the porch

Question 36

What is the upper level of the drum wall decorated with

Answer 36

Pilasters that frame the niches and panels that support a cornice from which the dome rises

Question 37

What was the large dome made out of

Answer 37

Heavier concrete at the bottom and progressively lighter materials, ending off with a light porous pumice stone

Question 38

What is the inside of the dome covered in

Answer 38

Rectangular recessed panels known as coffers

Question 39

How many coffers are there

Answer 39

140

Question 40

How are the 4 coffers arranged

Answer 40

In 5 tiers and are progressively smaller

Question 41

What is the effect of the coffers

Answer 41

They reduce the weight of the dome and they are also decorative, emphasising the upward lines and focusing the attention on the main feasture of the dome

Question 42

What is the main feature of the dome

Answer 42

The oculus

Question 43

What is the oculus

Answer 43

A circular opening at the centre of the dome with an 8,3m diameter. It is the input source of light in the interior

Question 44

What does oculus mean

Answer 44

Eye of heaven.

Question 45

How is the rain dealt with

Answer 45

It comes through the oculus and falls onto the slightly curved floor and into the drainpipes (roman)

Question 46

How did the pantheon escape dismantling

Answer 46

After it was converted to a Christian church in the 7th century since it had served as inspiration to the Byzantine and renaissance architects and more recently to civic and religious buildings in Europe and America