The course aims at offering the students the tools for analysing and understanding ancient architecture through a didactic strategy based both on an historical process-based outlook (crucial for an architect's background) and more practical design-based topics, highlighting traditional materials and building techniques, structural behaviour of traditional construction, principles of architectural design, the architectural language of classical orders.
During the lessons the students will be encouraged to understand a ruined construction through diagrams and sketches as well as to have a a structural approach to the building techniques used in Greek and Roman architecture. In order to gain a wide understanding of classical architecture the classes and site visits will focus on the aesthetical issues of classical architecture, the political significance of Imperial architecture in Rome, metrology, design issues, the context in which the buildings were designed and built, the historical sources, ancient treatises.
During the lessons the students will be encouraged to understand a ruined construction through diagrams and sketches as well as to have a a structural approach to the building techniques used in Greek and Roman architecture. In order to gain a wide understanding of classical architecture the classes and site visits will focus on the aesthetical issues of classical architecture, the political significance of Imperial architecture in Rome, metrology, design issues, the context in which the buildings were designed and built, the historical sources, ancient treatises.
teacher profile teaching materials
The course aims to stimulate the ability to interpret ancient architecture, refining the skills of analysis and comprehension of built structures, even in a ruined state, through the specific expertise of an architect.
The lessons cover ancient architecture from three perspectives: theoretical, through an in-depth study of architectural orders and treatises; typological, by analyzing the compositional characteristics and evolution of major public and private architectural types of antiquity (including forums, baths, entertainment buildings, domus, insulae, and villas); technical, by examining different construction and structural principles of ancient masonry and the development of vaulted architecture.
Lectures, spanning a chronological framework from the 6th century BCE to the 4th century CE, will be complemented by site visits to monumental buildings in Rome, Ostia, and Tivoli.
COURSE TOPICS
Ancient masonry: Greek ashlar structures and Roman masonry techniques.
Roofing and thrust systems: Arches, vaults, and domes.
Materials and finishing elements: Ancient stones and marbles from quarry to reuse.
Morphology and syntax of the architectural orders' language.
Vitruvius: how to read and contextualize De Architectura.
Architecture of power: The Imperial Fora in Rome
Architecture of consensus and integration: Entertainment buildings and baths.
Urban residential architecture: Domus, insulae, and villae.
Imperial residences: The Palatine and the Domus Aurea.
Architectural experimentation and ars topiaria: Hadrian’s Villa.
Paul Zanker, La città romana, Laterza, 2013.
Corrado Bozzoni, Vittorio Franchetti Pardo, Giorgio Ortolani, Alessandro Viscogliosi, L’architettura nel mondo antico, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2006.
Cairoli Fulvio Giuliani, L’edilizia nell’antichità, Carocci, Roma 2021 (o edizioni precedenti).
SEMINARI: LETTURE
Pier Nicola Pagliara, Vitruvio da testo a canone, in Memoria dell'antico nell'arte italiana, III: Dalla tradizione all'archeologia, a cura di Salvatore Settis, Einaudi, Torino 1986, pp. 5-85.
Salvatore Settis, Futuro del 'classico', Einaudi, Torino 2004.
Salvatore Settis, Continuità, distanza, conoscenza: tre usi dell'antico, in Memoria dell'antico nell'arte italiana, III: Dalla tradizione all'archeologia, a cura di Salvatore Settis, Einaudi, Torino 1986, pp. 373-486.
John Summerson, Il linguaggio classico dell’architettura. Dal Rinascimento ai maestri contemporanei, Torino, Einaudi, 1970 (English ed.: The Classical Language of Architecture, London, Methuen & Co. Ltd, 1963).
Christof Thoenes, Gli ordini architettonici: rinascita o invenzione, in Roma e l'antico nell'arte e nella cultura del Cinquecento, a cura di Marcello Fagiolo, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, Roma 1985, pp. 261-271.
Paul Zanker, Augusto e il potere delle immagini, Einaudi, Torino 2006.
Federico Zeri, L'arco di Costantino. Divagazioni sull'antico, Skira, Milano 2004.
Mutuazione: 21010394 STORIA DELL'ARCHITETTURA ANTICA in Architettura - Restauro LM-4 R MUSSOLIN MAURO, BENFANTE FLAVIA
Programme
COURSE DESRIPTIONThe course aims to stimulate the ability to interpret ancient architecture, refining the skills of analysis and comprehension of built structures, even in a ruined state, through the specific expertise of an architect.
The lessons cover ancient architecture from three perspectives: theoretical, through an in-depth study of architectural orders and treatises; typological, by analyzing the compositional characteristics and evolution of major public and private architectural types of antiquity (including forums, baths, entertainment buildings, domus, insulae, and villas); technical, by examining different construction and structural principles of ancient masonry and the development of vaulted architecture.
Lectures, spanning a chronological framework from the 6th century BCE to the 4th century CE, will be complemented by site visits to monumental buildings in Rome, Ostia, and Tivoli.
COURSE TOPICS
Ancient masonry: Greek ashlar structures and Roman masonry techniques.
Roofing and thrust systems: Arches, vaults, and domes.
Materials and finishing elements: Ancient stones and marbles from quarry to reuse.
Morphology and syntax of the architectural orders' language.
Vitruvius: how to read and contextualize De Architectura.
Architecture of power: The Imperial Fora in Rome
Architecture of consensus and integration: Entertainment buildings and baths.
Urban residential architecture: Domus, insulae, and villae.
Imperial residences: The Palatine and the Domus Aurea.
Architectural experimentation and ars topiaria: Hadrian’s Villa.
Core Documentation
TESTI OBBLIGATORIPaul Zanker, La città romana, Laterza, 2013.
Corrado Bozzoni, Vittorio Franchetti Pardo, Giorgio Ortolani, Alessandro Viscogliosi, L’architettura nel mondo antico, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2006.
Cairoli Fulvio Giuliani, L’edilizia nell’antichità, Carocci, Roma 2021 (o edizioni precedenti).
SEMINARI: LETTURE
Pier Nicola Pagliara, Vitruvio da testo a canone, in Memoria dell'antico nell'arte italiana, III: Dalla tradizione all'archeologia, a cura di Salvatore Settis, Einaudi, Torino 1986, pp. 5-85.
Salvatore Settis, Futuro del 'classico', Einaudi, Torino 2004.
Salvatore Settis, Continuità, distanza, conoscenza: tre usi dell'antico, in Memoria dell'antico nell'arte italiana, III: Dalla tradizione all'archeologia, a cura di Salvatore Settis, Einaudi, Torino 1986, pp. 373-486.
John Summerson, Il linguaggio classico dell’architettura. Dal Rinascimento ai maestri contemporanei, Torino, Einaudi, 1970 (English ed.: The Classical Language of Architecture, London, Methuen & Co. Ltd, 1963).
Christof Thoenes, Gli ordini architettonici: rinascita o invenzione, in Roma e l'antico nell'arte e nella cultura del Cinquecento, a cura di Marcello Fagiolo, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, Roma 1985, pp. 261-271.
Paul Zanker, Augusto e il potere delle immagini, Einaudi, Torino 2006.
Federico Zeri, L'arco di Costantino. Divagazioni sull'antico, Skira, Milano 2004.
Attendance
ATTENDANCE POLICY Attendance is mandatory for at least 75% of the classes, including both traditional in-class teaching activities and on-site sessions, as well as seminar activities, in accordance with academic regulations. Students who may have difficulty attending classes due to work commitments must inform the instructor by the end of October and agree on additional reading materials. Requests can be made in person or via email; in the latter case, it is crucial to ensure that a response from the instructor has been received.Type of evaluation
FINAL EXAM AND EVALUATION METHOD The final exam is oral and individual and covers the entire course program, including the reference bibliography, PowerPoint presentations, and additional teaching materials provided during the course (as well as any exercises conducted during the course). No midterm tests are foreseen. The final grade is out of 30/30. During the exam, students must demonstrate knowledge of the subject and the ability to critically interpret the topics, correctly placing them within their historical context and analyzing the key features of the most significant buildings and architectural orders, also through schematic sketches. The final discussion may take place through the presentation of the topics covered in the lessons and the recognition and commentary of one or more images related to the buildings described in class or through the presentation of graphic works produced during the course, possibly linked to further studies carried out in other courses or within the thesis laboratory. A good use of specific terminology will be crucial for achieving a fully positive evaluation. teacher profile teaching materials
Mutuazione: 21010394 STORIA DELL'ARCHITETTURA ANTICA in Architettura - Restauro LM-4 R MUSSOLIN MAURO, BENFANTE FLAVIA