Carlos Bethencourt

The arch manages to alleviate the amount of columns in the inside of the buildings and houses. In the arch we find the idea of the protoype:archetype:hybrid. The arch would represent the prototype, later is introduced the vault, that is, to extend over in the manner of an arch and that leads us nowhere but to the archetype, and finally the dome, that is, a vault having a circular plan with all equal dimensions. In other words, the dome is a hybrid component of the arch and the vault all together.

Thanks to the arches and concrete, building became more economically affordable and more accessible. Therefore, people could have several houses in order to show how wealthy they were. Hierarchy meant a lot in roman society. The bigger they built and the amount of more houses the more wealthy, powerful, higher in society you were. The hierarchy was determined for how much money and political power you had. The wealthiest had 8 “villas” out of the city borders. Blakemore says, “the type of residence was, to some degree, reflection of the social position of the resident”(Blakemore 47). Therefore, hierarchy was set, in part, by the amount of houses one had. Bottom line, all this was made possible because of the accessible use of cement and the arches.

But Romans did not care where to build and how would it affect the environment. The Romans followed a particular order of straight lines and structural desing. Professor Patrick Lucas said, “if the Romans had a mountain in the middle they would cut the mountain or build a tunnel”. The Romans had such structural order for their building plans that they had no concern of their entourage. The Romans did not take advantage of the hills or surroundings, like the Greeks did. Greek theaters take advantage of the hills and build accordingly. The Romans instead, had an especific order where the building had to be situated (beside the Basilica or a specific temple) and so amphitheaters where created among others things.

 Concrete was the new source with the ability to shape forms and buildings. From concrete the arches were invented and later evolved into vault and dome, which fulfills the principles of prototype:archetype:hybrid. The concrete as a new source for building created numerous of enormous buildings and small houses. The scales of the house determined the social position of the citizen. Although, for Romans much was the desire of building and using the new ability to manipulate the sources and materials, that they build everywhere and they didn’t care much about the environment or taking advantage of it, they just build. But it was not just building everywhere; every building had a place to be and to stand according to organized structure. And I think this is a perfect example of what we are used to do today. We like to build everywhere. We like to establish a distinct class of society according to where you live, for example Beverly Hills and Greensboro. In short, I can see how connected the world is today to the Roman society. We still share the same ideas of architecture and the meaning of it. Therefore we can be considered, in a way, a Modern Roman Society.