"Rustic" Villa structure completed!

Ladies and Gentlemen;

The "rustic" villa structure is now complete.  The roof has been put on a special shading screens over the extended rooms in the front.  The four new pictures of the villa will give an idea of the size of the structure.  Now that the structure has been completed the furniture will have to be selected, the interior walls completed, the interior decoration decided upon, and while that is being taken care of, the gardens must be laid out.  The landscaping and place where the villa rests also needs to be decided upon.

I see that there will be plenty of room beneath the roof for storerooms and so a floor plan for the storerooms, as well as the accommodations for the slaves that will be a part of the villa must be drawn out and planned.

The rough sketches for the "townhouse" villa floor plans have been completed and I am now beginning to draw them out in the architectural plans as well as figuring out the plans for the house model similar to that of the "rustic" villa.  As the drawings are completed I shall have pictures taken of them and post them on the blog.

Respectfully;

Marcus Audens   

"Rustic" Villa , side view

 

"Rustic" Villa, side view.  Note the small room extending from the side of the structure.  I believe this is the lavatory.

"Rustic" Villa, rear of villa

 

This is a picture of the rear of the villa, notice the back door room and the added window area.

"Rustic" Roman Villa - No roof

 

This is the villa front with all  vertical wall installed. 

"Townhouse" Villa #2

Ladies and Gentlemen;

The lower portion of the "rustic" villa are finished and ready to be photographed, as soon as my wife finishes her work.  Meanwhile the design of the "Townhouse" villa continues.  I am also making copies of the "rustic" villa plans in case anyone wants a hard copy.

In regard to the "townhouse" villa plans, I have rough sketches of the ground and first levels of the villa detailed.  I am following the ideas expressed in the following book which seems to me to be a very nice house indeed!!  

--Stephan Biesty, "Rome, In Spectacular Cross-Section," Scholastic Nonfiction, Oxford University Press, Oxford, England, 2003, (0-439-45546-4).

While this is a juvenile book it illustrates in excellent detail all the information needed to design and build a model "townhouse" villa.  

There are two views of the villa  in the book.  One is a side view showing both upper and lower levels.  The second is a top view, about 30 to 45 degrees off top center, and showing rooms and passages below the tiled roof.  It is from these views that I will make my final design layout for the "townhouse" villa.

Respectfully;

Marcus Audens 

The Walls are up!!

Ladies and Gentlemen;

In my daily visit to the "rustic" villa today, I found the walls were mostly up and the work proceeding apace with my wishes.  The villa is beginning to look like a place that one might like to live!  My next project for this particular structure is to finalize the outline of the gardens, and the interior floor plan of the house.  I have taken three pictures of the villa  as it is now, and will place them in the blog as soon as they are set into the computer.

This villa is rather like a "get-away" cabin in the hills.  It will not have all of the elements of the "townhouse"  or "seaside" villas which are presently in the planning stages.  The walls of the villa will be made of clay brick and the roof of cedar beams and clay tiles.  The walls of the villa will be painted with a lime-wash which dries to a brilliant white and will then be trimmed in red.

Today I received word by messenger that a "corn ship" in which I have an interest has arrived at the seaport, and so tomorrow I will make my way down the Tiber once more to view the ship and her cargo, and to seek out any other opportunities which might be available with the arrival of such a vessel.  While I am there it will also be prudent I believe to look in on the warship  that is a-building once again.  The builder has indicated a problem with getting the lumber that he has on order, and I want to see if that problem has been taken care of 

This morning I met with some of my patrons and an agreement has been struck with a freedman of some length of acquaintance and his wife to stay with the "rustic" villa to keep a close eye on the construction from here on.  He has a complete list of what I wish to have done at the villa, and to what kinds of wood I want to strengthen the building as well as to decorate it.  I also will want a well and a cistern dug convienient to the house, A garden layout in accordance with my drawings, and stone work in the garden itself.  I have requested a sculptor to draw up some plans for some stone statues to place in the garden as well as a variety of designs for stone benches.  My patron will keep his eyes on all these things and notify me when I need to make some decisions.  This will give me more time to follow my other tsks in the city and at the docks.  I have indicated to him that if the villa turns out well then he is to have a position at the villa as the manager and his wife as one of the cooks.  I have also selected a patron to stay in the vicinity of the warship and to visit the shipyard daily.  He is an older man who has had a great deal of experience at sea, but who has fallen on hard times recently.  He will accompany me tomorrow on the trip to the seaport and we will make arrangements for him to stay in the vicinity, and also to send me a message as he feels the need.  I believe that he will be a great help to me in this effort and perhaps in similar efforts in the future.

Respectfully;

Marcus Audens             

"Rustic "Villa" second set of walls

The first set of four walls for the "rustic" villa have been reinforced with balsa wood in order to give them a stiffness in setting the four basic walls up on the house plan.  The walls have been glued up and will be dry in the morning.  Meanwhile, I have cut out the front wall of the villa and the wall sections for the two end rooms on either end of that wall which extend forward.  These three cutouts will form the front part of the villa.  I will back these walls with balsa stripping, when I collect the first four walls from my workbench tomorrow.

When I get the seven walls up and fastened down solidly on the plan, then I will take another picture of the villa as it looks at that point to give you somewhat of an idea about how the "construction" is coming along.

In the design of the "townhouse" villa, I will be making a third story sketch of the basement or sub-level area of the house.  This will consist of two sections separated from each other:--the hypocaust (furnace) and the basement storage area.  The hypocaust will heat only one or two rooms on the ground floor, probably the lady of the house bedroom, and the office.  These will be the most often used rooms in the house during inclement weather.

Respectfully;

Marcus Audens