1. Roman Pleasure Villas

2. I. Context: Time and spaces designed for pleasure A. Why didn’t Roman pleasure villas emerge before the mid 1 st century BC ? Farming “villa rustica” owned by city-dweller at Boscoreale, Italy, 1 st cen. BC

3. I. B. Roman Villa Ideology: How did Romans come to justify the creation of villas? city life/business (negotium) necessitates leisure (otium) Roman fresco of a seaside villa The fora in downtown Rome “It is not without reason that those great men our ancestors preferred country people to city-dwellers; for just as in the country those who live in the luxury villa are lazier than those who work in the fields, so they believed those who stay in town to be more indolent than those who life in the country” (Varro, Rerum rusticarum, II. i).

4. Hadrian’s Villa, Tivoli, Italy, A.D. 118-125 (Imperial) model Aerial view of most of Hadrian’s Villa II. Villa design: loosening the Roman preference for spatial control

5. II. A. Functions: Experiences a pleasure villa should offer to the owner Pliny’s Tuscan Villa 2 nd century AD Pliny’s Laurentine Villa Hadrian’s Villa 3.

6. Hadrian’s Villa in Tivoli Hadrian’s Villa Rome II. A. 1. From Pliny’s letter, what are important qualities of a site suitable for a pleasure villa and are they satisfied at Hadrian’s Villa? 1. 2.

7. Hadrian’s Villa II. A. 2. Easy access to the restorative effects of nature: What are some examples of how architects design for the interpenetration of nature and living space in a pleasure villa? Scenic Canal and Triclinium Island Enclosure

8. Hadrian’s Villa, ambulatory wall II. A. 3. How does the plan encouraged walking and exercise?

9. II. A. 4. How did the pleasure of the eye determine villa design? Hadrian’s Villa: East West Terrace

10. No single controlling idea = no cohesive overall plan But, individual portions have consistent axes (echoes of the ideal) Hadrian’s Villa II. B. Villa design principles: Strategies for an exhilarating subjective experience at Hadrian’s Villa Good villa design should make one’s real-life routine inconvenient.

11. Hadrian’s Villa, ambulatory wall opening draws visitor into the Island Enclosure optical linkage to the next experience II. B. 1. How does the design urge inhabitants to move on to successive experiences, rather than simultaneous experiences?

12. Hadrian’s Villa, Island Enclosure II. B. 2. How are last minute revelations or surprises arranged? actual state reconstructive rendering

13. Hadrian’s Villa, Scenic Canal and Triclinium II. B. 3. How do strong contrasts enhance perceptual sensations?

14. Hadrian’s Villa, Scenic Canal and Triclinium II. B. 3.

15. Hadrian’s Villa, Scenic Tricliniumwith view back out II. B. 3.

16. III. The Imperial quality – i.e., emperor-enhancing – of Hadrian’s pleasure villa

17. III. A. Making Hadrian’s Villa look like it had a long history leading to Hadrian with a promising future 1. Buildings that glorify the past of Classical architecture Doric tholos

18. III. A. 2. Buildings that reveal the future potential of Classical architecture a. new exploitations of the curve Island Enclosure - tiny atrium at the center Reverse curve pavilion

19. Scenic Triclinium III. A. 2. b. Experiments with new vaulting types Scalloped and gored hemispherical vault mounted on a cylindrical ground plan Gored dome with slim columns at the angles carrying impost blocks which appeared to be the springing point of both the vault and the arches, creating a double ring of arches. Vestibule of the Water Court

20. Hadrian’s Villa, Scenic Canal and Triclinium III. A. 2. c. manipulation of classical orders arcuated lintel

21. III. A. 2. c. Unfluted Ionic order Square (!) Doric “columns” in the hall of the Ceremonial Precinct

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