147 apartment blocks used by prozy to illustrate the living conditions of most roman inhabitants Larger more luxuriously

appointed apartments following common plan medianum aparments upper end of rental market Common feature is hall, wide corridor, lit by large external windows on court or side street (medianum), remaining rooms are grouped on 3 sides Occupying potentially valuable ground floor space elongated form origins on building on upper floors above rows of tabernae This kind of large apartment has no known parallel at rome, from the severan marble plan or the excavated insulae at rome only surviving kind is on upper floor of Casa di via Guilo Romano, foot of the Capitoline, over row of tabernae Supply of housing at ostia 1973 R. Meiggs how far did architects build to meet known demands Fundamental to understanding dynamics of physical development of city, where land and construction represented a considerable investment Built for rent as good a return on residential as commercial rents on ground floor level Built within a 50 year period, from reign of Trajan to mid 2nd century BC Multiple unit complexes - 2 or more apartments of this type part of single complexes Physical size of apartments and main spaces organisation of space in apartment design process Problem of relationship with Pompeian atrium style apartments Relationship between label, function and physical structure of a room must be addressed Labels assigned to spaces based on location within structure not so simple Rented apartment cenaculum medianum are common form of larger higher status apartments Medianum describes a room, specific location on the top floor with street windows, specific set of users, all inhabitants of cenaculum Medianum apartments are ground floor, window sills,1.4m or higher, not necessarily constructed for multiple tenants, even if it might have happened frequently in practice Medianum room was it given the same name whether an apartment housed a family or when on the ground floor, unclear. F. Pirson reading of inscription of Insula arriana polliana at pompei , advertising rental property, small apartments on the ground floor like the medianum apartments without peristyles or gardens

may be considered domus rather than cenacula legal sources medianum is a room which relates to objects dropped onto the street below 151. Cenacula placed on upper floor by legal sources Absence of kitchens in ostian insulae hermasen argues the medianum was where the meal was cooked and dining room but there are highly decorated room, one in each apartment, might be reception/dining room fascist imperative to remove evidence of kitchens Most are characterised by narrow rectangular shape, long side on the outer wall of the block looking over a street garden or internal court Main organisational feature 3 rooms arranged along exterior wall, central medianum flanked by 2 major rooms Is larger and in later stages best decorated, often rises through upper floors Smaller but still well decorated, sometimes double height Often indirectly lit, open of medianum, behind rooms or annexes a b, closed rooms with narrow doorways, sometimes include one or more open rooms with wide doorways onto the medianum Internal staircases layouts deliberate variations on the same theme Variation through numbe rand arrangement of secondary rooms Design considerations and functions of large medianum apartment assessed in comparison with domus type apartment included in same structure 152 .Insula of Jove and Ganymede, Case a giardino These two houses have common features relating to status, earning label domus Pompeian domus wide entrances into a circulation space around a courtyard, number of grand reception areas, good quality decoration on floors and walls, associated shops with direct access into domus, separate service differ from Pompeian atrium houses in the visual separation and restriction of accessd to causal visitors main reception areas off axis to main entrances Visitors not well acquainted would catch a glimpse of riches of main reception room, no access for a closer look Medianum apartments related to the domus type apartments share features separate service quarters, extra space on upper floor,

Who occupied them 166 hermansen middle to upper middle class Ostian apartments have fewer but larger main rooms Less overt references to public architecture internal columns found in even small atrium houses Imposing reception room and tablinium style B rooms similar to the substantial vesuvian domus not small atrium houses- importance of the reception of guests, relatively large households accompanying individuals of fairly elevated socio-economic position Lack of choice (no seasonal rooms), distance from the exterior of main controlling space, absence of allusions to public architecture detatchment from public-political life, absence of desire to receive many visitors, need to differentiate master

171 close inspection of physical spatial and design aspects of medianum apartments Parallels with similar sized Pompeian domus, part of rental accommodation in the Insula arriana polliana May not have been rental but owner occupied Seasonal residences to members of shipping corporations, key role in ostian expansion in 2nd century ad, little need for multiple and carefully differentiated reception rooms of those looking for public office in home communities Similarities in design process familiar part of architectural repertoire