How did the Romans revolutionized architecture with the invention of concrete?

Answer 1

The architectural technique of the arch is a trademark of ancient Rome. The Romans applied the arch to many of their buildings for two reasons: as a support and for decoration. Although the Romans did not originate the arch itself, it was applied with great skill and success to various works of utility, and they made it a universal feature in civil buildings. This arch also influenced in the making of the vault and the dome.

Answer 2

Roman architecture shaped roman civilisation. It allowed the Ancient Romans to Entertain themselves and perhaps explore their creative side. They invented the dome for example. A rounded roof formed by arches. The Pantheon (completed in 126CE) is a giant concrete dome. This was made by poring concrete of limestone and volcanic Ash from Vesvuis over a large wooden frame then leaving it to harden naturally.

Answer 3

The Romans used concrete for large scale projects, such large public buildings, military facilities (forts and fortifications) warehouses, amphitheatres, circuses (racing tracks) temples, baths, bridges, aqueducts and dams, and to build domes. They also laid concrete in arches and vaults to exploit the great load bearing capacity of these structures. Since Roman concrete set underwater, it was also used to build the docks of ports. The making of underwater concrete was mastered by the 1st century AD. The port of Caesarea, in Judea, is the earliest known example of its use on a large scale. After the devastating fire of 64 AD, emperor Nero ordered that the new buildings in the rebuilding of the city had to be mostly of brick-faced concrete. This stimulated the growth of the brick and concrete industries.

The Romans were not the first to use concrete, but they developed a new and much better type. They used pozzolana - volcanic sands from the sand-like beds of Pozzuoli, which is now a suburb of Naples. It is brownish-yellow-grey near Naples and reddish-brown in Rome. They mixed it with lime in a ratio of 1 to 3 for cement for buildings and 1 to 2 for underwater concrete. This was mixed with water. Pieces of rock, ceramic tiles, or brick rubble from previously demolished buildings were added to the aggregate. Lime (or Gypsium, a very soft sulfate mineral) acted as a binder. Pozzolana makes concrete more resistant to salt water than modern concrete. The Romans also discovered that by adding horse hair, the concrete was less liable to crack while it set and that blood made it more frost resistant.

Roman concrete had similarities with and was as strong as modern concrete, but it was less fluid and could not be poured into moulds. It had to be layered by hand. Different techniques were used in different periods: irregular stones, square tuff block (laid in a diamond pattern or intersected by brick bands), ashalrs (a finely cut masonry, which is the finest stone masonry unit, capable of very thin joints between blocks; the visible face may have a variety of decorative work), bricks (laid regularly, in herrningbone pattern, in vertical rows of upright blocks with alternating horizontal blocks, or in horizontal brickwork).

The Colosseum, the Basilica of Maxentius, and the Baths of Caracalla are prime examples of concrete structures in the city of Rome. The dome of the Pantheon, a former temple in the city of Rome which was converted into a church, is made of concrete. It is still the larges unenforced concrete dome. in the world.

Answer 4

Roman concrete has not influenced modern civilisation because it was different than modern concrete. Knowledge of how to make concrete disappeared after the end of Roman civilisation. New attempts at making concrete dated to the late 17th century and modern concrete appeared in the mid-19th century.

Roman concrete was as resistant as modern concrete. However, it was not as fluid as modern concrete and had to be layered by hand. It was made by mixing a volcanic rock called pozzolana (which is named after Pozzuoli, a suburb of Naples) with lime and adding rubble from local stones .It also set underwater and was used to build docks for ports.