Insula (building)

Insula, Latin for island, is the term for blocks in mostly perpendicular scale cities in ancient times, especially in the Roman Empire. In a narrower sense thus can be called Roman tenements. The Kaiser -time over one million people lived in the city of Rome in a confined space. Housing was scarce and expensive. So Roman architect came up with the idea to build up. There arose the so-called " insulae " - Tenement with up to five or six storeys.

Insulae were primarily found in major cities and were mostly inhabited by less affluent people, because they cost little rent. There were usually multi-storied buildings with 6-7 floors, with the ground floor were often shops ( tabernae ) and in the floors above the flats ( cenacula ) of the tenants. The larger and better-equipped apartments were located on the first floor ( see, eg, the Casa dei Dipinti and the Domus di Giove e Ganimede in Ostia). There was comfort, multiple rooms, balconies, running water and toilets. In the upper floors, the apartments were increasingly smaller, poorer and cheaper too.

The insulae were built mainly in the large rapidly growing cities, because the space within the walls was limited. In apartment blocks, many people could live in a small area in 6-7 bullets. Saving space was very important, so the ground could not be thicker than half a meter, for as little tall buildings. Despite the tiny apartments in the insulae more housing was needed, which resulted in more wooden shacks were built on the roofs. This type of construction and the narrow streets it often came to fires that destroyed entire neighborhoods.

The insulae were usually built of sun-dried bricks, which are fully absorbed in flood and collapsed. This was not possible in baked brick, but these were expensive to produce and therefore more expensive. Even the quality of the adobe must have been very low, because normally they should also not fall apart after a flood. In the more expensive houses with burnt bricks, they were often used as wall shells between the Opus Cementicium, a sort of ancient concrete from sand, lime and coarse or fine gravel was poured. For the foundation, floor and ceiling constructions for roof construction, staircases, balconies (if there were any ), the shutters and doors, wood was used.

The insulae possessed, if ever, only an inadequate supply of fresh water, and also this. Only on the first floor The tenants of the upper floors used the public toilets and bath houses. This led, especially after the first century AD to serious diseases in the cities.

The apartments were often in poor condition, because the landlord refused to fix the damage. As a result of defective construction, cracks formed in the walls, so it was always drafty in the apartments and penetrated with rain water. This could also lead to Kalkablösung and mold growth.

Strabo reported house breakdowns that were unrelated to poor quality of the house, but from the sale of the interest of the landlord, who could earn much more money if he built luxurious atrium houses on his property.

For the insulae Augustus led a height limit of 21 m, a Trajan of 16 m. This regulation was apparently not followed, because n after the fire in the year 64 AD during the reign of the Emperor Nero was adopted laws in which limited the height to 21 m and a distance of 3 m was placed between the buildings. The law also regulated that the facades of adjacent buildings were flat roof extensions to facilitate the work of firefighters. The less durable and unstable mud brick was replaced by iron -clad masonry in the construction of this high apartment buildings. However, the violations of the Building Regulations did not stop and eventually forced Trajan to limit the height of the insulae at 18 m. The narrow streets resulted in fires to escape harsh ways.