What architectural feature did the Romans design?

Answer 1

Thanks to their Concrete Revolution, Roman Architecture popularized such forms as the dome, the vault, and the arch.

Crucial to the exploitation of this potential was the trend toward the monumental structures such as aqueducts, amphitheaters, bridges, temples, baths, harbors, circuses, domes, and dams.

Answer 2

The Romans adopted the use of columns and of an entablature and pediment for their temples form the Greeks. The columns supported the roof. The entablature is a block or series of blocks of stone (architrave) placed horizontally on top of the columns and can include a wide decorative panel called frieze and a cornice, which is another decorative element which forms the top of the entablature and protrudes from the rest. The pediment is the triangular space above the entablature which supports a sloped roof.

The Romans also adopted the porticoes from the Greeks (which were also supported by columns) and the exedra (a semicircular recess, often with a semi-dome, which was sometimes set into a building's facade) from the Greeks.

The Romans went beyond the post and lintel architectural technique. They were first to fully appreciate the advantages of the arch (which has a strong load-bearing capacity and provides stability) and the vaulted arch or vault (adjacent arches which are assembled side by side). The latter has an even greater load bearing capacity and its structure is suited to support large roofs. The arches and the vaults came to be used extensively for the first time. They became essential for the construction of large scale buildings, to support large roofs and to build basements. The Romans also invented a new and much stronger type of concrete, which together with the arch and vault, became essential for large scale constructions. The building of the Colosseum was made possible by the use of the arch, the vault and concrete (as well as stone).

The Romans invented segmental arch (a flatter arch in which the curve is a less than semi-circular segment of a circle). They realized that an arch did not have to be a semicircle.

These arches were used regularly for houses, warehouses and bridges. Limyra Bridge in south-western Turkey had 26 segmental arches. Its 27th arch at the eastern end collapsed and was replaced with by two smaller, semi-circular arches.

With the use of the arch and concrete the Romans were also able to build bridges which were much longer than before and could cross much wider rivers and valleys. The longest one was Trajan's bridge, which crossed the river Danube and although it was only functional for a few decades, it was the longest arch bridge in both total and span length more than 1,000 years. It was 1,135 m (3,724 ft.) long, 15 m (49 ft.) wide, and 19 m (62 ft.) above the water level. When they needed very high bridges, the Romans built them with two or three tiers of arches to reach the required height. The Pont du Gard, a bridge for an aqueduct which supplied Nimes, in southern France is the greatest example of a multi- pier bridge. It has three tiers of recessed arches with the main piers in line one above the other. The first two tiers have very high and wide arches and a third tier has low and narrow arches. It was built to carry an aqueduct to Nimes in southern France. It reaches a height of 48.8 metres (160 feet). The lower tier is 142 metres (466 feet) long and has six aches with a height of 22 metres (72 ft.). The second tier is 242 metres (794 ft.) long and has eleven arches 20 metres (66 ft.) high. The upper tier is 275 metre (902 ft.) long. It originally had 47 arches (only 35 have survived) 7 metres (23 ft.) high. The width of the first pier is 6 metres (20th.), that of the second pier is 4 metres (13 ft.) and that of the third pier is 3 metres (23 ft.).