Fores et fenestrae. A computational study of doors and windows in Roman domestic space
Date
29/11/2019Author
Michielin, Lucia
Metadata
Abstract
Until very recently the role of doors and windows in shaping the life and structure of
Roman private dwellings has been highly underestimated. The reason for this lies
primarily in the difficulties linked to their study. The low level of preservation of walls
and the widespread use of perishable and recyclable materials hinder in many cases a
correct assessment of these structures. This thesis aims to analyse Roman doors and
windows and their role as an essential part of daily life. They are the structures that
connect not only rooms but the houses to the outside world. They relate to privacy,
security and light in domestic spaces. To achieve this greater understanding, a
computational approach has been followed. The two cores of the research are the
analysis of the database and the observation of results based on new 3D models. 1,855
doors and windows have been surveyed across eight towns of Roman imperial Italy.
The information collected has been organised in a database comprised of nine tables
and mined through statistical analyses. Three 3D models of three different types of
dwellings have been generated simulating realistic materials and light conditions to
observe the role of doors and windows in context.
The thesis is subdivided into four sections. The first one explains the
methodology used during the study and analyses the previous scholarship available on
the topic, highlighting how the issue of doors and windows has often be ignored or
only superficially considered. The second section collects the typologies of
complementary sources needed to comprehend the result of the statistical analyses
better and to integrate the 3D models; literary, epigraphic, and visual sources are
considered. To these, the analysis of the complementary archaeological sources has
been added. The third section of the thesis examines the case studies analysed and
assesses the housing units’ subdivision within the single dwellings. The fourth part
enters the core of the analysis. It is composed of two chapters, the first of which
provides a detailed overview of the statistics analyses produced on the sample
collected. The latter chapter investigates the results of the renders and analyses views
and natural light in the Roman house.
The analysis undertaken shows the importance that doors and windows have on
the organisation of private dwellings. Considering the general darkness of the Roman
house, the sizes and location of these features influence the life within the different
areas of the abodes. By controlling the levels of light in the house, these structures can
regulate the activities and generate preferential paths through houses. Furthermore, the
possibility of equipping windows with glazed panels, from the late first century AD,
had a significant influence on changing the outlook of the Roman house, allowing
bigger windows to be built facing the public street, opening up, therefore, dwellings
towards the outside. Finally, doors and windows present a high level of standardisation
and correlation between their sizes, testifying, on one side, to an interconnection
between the two structures, and, on the other, the presence of a shared idea on how
doors and windows should look.