2. Book V – Civil Buildings
CHAPTER I - The Forum and Basilica
CHAPTER II - The treasury, prison & senate
CHAPTER III - The theatre
CHAPTER IV - Baths
CHAPTER V - The Palaestra
CHAPTER VI - Harbour and Shipyards
3. Forum
Outdoor public space
Square plan
Surrounded by colonades
1st floor is a walking space
(stoa)
Proportionate scale
B = 2/3 L
1st floor height will be ¼
times less than the ground
floor height
4. Basilica
Indoor meeting place
Adjacent to forum (on the
warmest side)
1/3 L < B < 1/2 L
Height of basilica = breadth
of side aisle
Breadth of aisle = 1/3 times
breadth of nave
5. Treasury and Senate
Must be proportionate to the forum
Senate
If L = B, then H = L
If L ≠ B, then H = (L+B)/2
6. Theatre
Healthy site
Less sun exposure
Strong foundation
Various entrances but
connected
Acoustics of theatre
Clear sound
10. Baths
Located at the warmest
position
The warm room must share
the same furnace
The floor of the room must
be sloping towards the
furnace
Size of bath depends upon
the occupants
12. Book VI – Domestic Buildings
CHAPTER I - climate and style of the house
CHAPTER II - Modification to suit the site
CHAPTER III - Proportions of principal rooms
CHAPTER IV - Proper exposures of rooms
CHAPTER V - Rooms suiting station of owner
CHAPTER VI - Farmhouse
CHAPTER VII - The Greek house
CHAPTER VIII – Foundations and sub-structures
13. On CLIMATE
one part of the world is under the sun's course, another is distant
from it, and another, between the two, is temperate. Therefore the
earth varies in temperature in different parts, so the form of buildings
must be varied according to the temperature of the place, and the
various aspects of the heavens.
Houses in North should be heavily sheltered, having warm
exposures
In southern countries which suffer form heat houses must be built
more open with northern exposures
14. Dining rooms and bathrooms should
have south western exposure
Bedrooms and Libraries ought to have
an eastern exposure
Kitchen at the warmest side of
courtyard adjoined by the stable facing
east
Wine room with windows to the north to
save it from direct heat
Oil room to the south to keep warm
Leave places for windows on all sides
on which a clear view of the sky can be
had, to make our building light.In dining
rooms, passages, stairs etc
Proper Exposure of room in Farmhouse
15. Greek House
No atriums, but passageways.
One between two peristyles called
‘mesauloe’ (situated midway) aka
‘andrones’ by Romans.
Peristyle with colonnades on 3 sides
A recess called ‘prostas’ of distance 1/3
less than the space between the antae.
To the right and left are chambers
called ‘thalamos’ and ‘Amphithalamos’
Large rooms for mistress of house
This part of house is called
‘gynaeconitis’
`
16. On either side of peristyle are dining
rooms
On other side of mesauloe is a Rhodian
peristyle.
Colonnades that face north have dining
rooms and galleries; to east, libraries;
exadrae to the west and to the south large
rooms.
There are Men’s apartments.Where men
can enjoy without the interruption of
women
Sometimes small sets of apartments are
built as guest chambers with separate
entrances.
Stables and doorkeepers rooms are on
the either side of the thirorpion.
17. Book VII –Floors & Decorative plaster works
Chapter 1 : Floors
For concrete flooring utmost precaution must be taken for its durability thus the
soil is tested, leveled and stone bedding is laid
Wooden flooring, winter oak is used the most. It must be taken care that there is
no wall under the floor or it will cause fissures on the left and the right of the
flooring.
Chapter 2 : Slaking of lime
Precautions :
Lime must be burnt long time before it is wanted for use.
If not properly slaked, it will throw out blisters on application which in
execution, break and destroy the smoothness of the stucco.
Chapter 3 : Vaulting and stucco work
For arched ceilings, parallel ribs must not be 2 feet apart and are fixed to the ties
of the floor or the roof with iron nails
Fixation and bounding of the ribs
Application of sand on the arches and polish by chalk or marble
Coating of cornices
Coating of marble dust
18. Chapter 4 : Stucco work in damp places
Cavities in the walls and pavements must be left with opening.
Chapter 5 : Decadence of Fresco Paintings
From stucco, to inlaid marbles to cornices and then red and yellow frames of panels
and later wards came fresco’s.
Walls were decorated with sceneries, landscapes, animals, nature, tragic and satiric
comics, figures representing Gods and stories of battles.
Fresco’s were also used for hiding the defective plaster and the cracks of stucco.
Chapter 6 : Marble for use in stucco
Marble is laid in three coats.
First coat consist of larger particles of marble combined with sand and limestone
Next coat is of limestone and sand with chips of marbles called assulæ
Final coat has fine particles of marbles with limestone and sand in a smaller proportion
Chapter 7 : Natural Colors
Some are found in natural state by digging while some are composed by mixing
Colors like red ochre, red lead, green chalk were the first to be used.
19. Chapter 8 and 9 : Cinnabar and Quicksilver
Cinnabar is a powdered mineral from which vermilion (brilliant red or scarlet pigment)
is made
Cinnabar is also used for extracting quicksilver (mercury). It is done by roasting
crushed cinnabar ore in rotary furnace.
Quicksilver is used in silver and brass plating. Also for collecting gold from ashes of
clothes containing gold embroidery.
Chapter 10 : Artificial colors, Black
Black color is made by drying and burning lees of wine in a furnace, and grinding the
result with size.
Chapter 11 : Blue burnt ochre
Blue pigment is made from the mixture of sand, sulfur and Cyprian copper in a
furnace.
Heating yellow earth and quenching with vinegar a similar blue pigment but with a
purplish shade.
Chapter 12: White lead, Verdigris and Artificial Sandarac
Layer of twigs with vinegar and layer of lead placed in vessels are covered for
preventing evaporation and after some time these masses turn into white lead.
20. Book VIII – Water Supplies & Aqueducts
Water is the Principle element in all things. No moisture means no blood, the
vessels would dry. As priests, philosophers and physicist declare, all the
things depend upon water power.
Water sources: springs of running water, underground reserves, clay (less
amount and bad taste), fine gravel (more but bad taste), veins of pebbles(
moderate quantity but sweet taste), at mountain foot, lava and rain.
Valleys in the mountains receive most rain water which eventually turns to
snow. The gushing springs then emerge at the foot of the mountains as the
snow melts slowly filtering and hence purifying through the fissures in the
ground.
The hot air collects the moisture from its surroundings, makes it rise and
converts the moisture into clouds. Hence the winds from the south are
mostly damp and always bring rain while those from the north come in blasts
as they are cooler as well as dry.
When the alum or asphalt or sulphur are set on fire on ground, they make
the springs in earth to rise in temperature making the water move in the
upper layer known as the hot spring and the lower strata called the cold
spring
21. The hot spring is generally sweet as water is emitted out in pure form in
boiling state but the cold one is bad in taste as well as color and odour as it
passes through a large distance to seep out.
Most hot springs have healings properties as it is boiled with foreign salts
such as asphalt (cure internal maladies), sulphur (cures pain) etc. Some
acidic springs are said to be able to dissolve stones in bladder.
The water generally have different flavors due to the difference in the
properties of soil.
If an open spring is to be tested, frames and health of people living around it
should be taken in account. Also the boiling rate of vegetable, the amount of
solid impurities can serve the purpose.
water leveling can be done with an instrument called chorobate which is
straightedge joined together with legs through cross pieces having vertical
lines upon it
If the water is to be conducted through lead pipes into the city then a
reservoir should be made at the source, connected to another reservoir
through lead pipes inside the city’s walls and the water then distributed
through more pipes from there.
Levels should be considered (can be natural or artificially
22. introduced) from source to destination while using lead pipes because any
water blockage can cause the joints to burst.
Clay pipes are a cheaper alternative to lead ones but their thickness is
generally in 2 digits. These pipes are joined together by tongue and groove
joint.
These pipes later on can be joined with the aqueducts to form another water
supply system. An aqueduct can receive water from a well if not a spring.
Clay pipes have certain advantages over the lead one as the labor for clay
pipe construction is local and cheap and also it is safer health wise.
if the ground in the locality is too hard then water can be collected from the
roofs or higher ground through the cisterns that can collect rain water and
provide a clean supply.
It is obvious that a man can survive without food stuff for some days and can
even find an alternative but survival is impossible without water, even the
production of food is not possible without it hence one should keep looking
for clean water resources.