A Roman Colloquium At The Colosseum - The Story Behind Colosseum

Roman architecture was also considered to be an exact copy of the Greek building style. But, the Romans have also contributed to the classical architectural styles. The two developments of Roman buildings styles are the Tuscan and composite orders. Tuscan is a shortened, simplified variant on the Doric order of the Greek style. Composite is a tall order with the floral decoration of the Corinthian and the scrolls of the ionic building style of the Greeks. The grand marvel structure of Colosseum is exemplary of the fierce Roman Empire's sense of engineering and a zeal for architecture under whom the masterpiece was built. The construction that started by around 70 to 72 AD under the emperor of Vespasian reached its completion in the 80 AD and so had Emperor Vespasian throne after being replaced by Emperor Titus.

The Roman Colosseum is the best-known amphitheatre in the world. The commonly known Ancient Roman Colosseum derives its name from the Latin name Amphitheater Effluvium, as it was constructed by the emperors of the Fl-avian dynasty. The Pantheon is a building in Rome, which was originally built as a temple to the seven deities of the seven planets of the Roman state religion. Since 7th century, it has been a Christian church. The Colosseum and the Pantheon are some of the buildings built during this period. The structure breaking the stereotype trends of past Greek buildings is elliptical in shape being 189 meters long and 156 meters wide spread around a spherical ground ranging up to 6 acres which is about 24,000 meter square. The outer wall measures 48 meters, while the central pitch forms an egg shaped ground stretching up to 87 meters, which is surrounded by a wall 5 meters high.

Once a host to the bravery battles which are the roman gladiatorial games, simulated sea battles and the cuber prestigious games held by Titus which had this mega block filled with water to demonstrate the acrobats of trained swimming creatures; the Colosseum was capable of accommodating a whopping figure of 50,000 spectators at a time. There were also recitals of mythological dramas performed here, with the execution of the hero often by beasts or an unruly character would mark the high point of the play. The Ancient Roman Colosseum continues to stand with the same stature representing that compromised power of the Roman Empire today, even after the structure has been ruined after suffering the tremors caused by an earthquake.

Read more »

Build a House in Your Garden - Types of Garden Houses

There are many uses for wooden buildings and as many different designs. For every requirement there is a type of garden building to suit the need. Whether you have the need to storage in the garden for tools or bikes or a plush summer house to use during those warmer months, there is a garden building design to suit it. There are various types of garden buildings like garden sheds, garden workshops, summer houses, garden offices and garden play houses and each type of garden buildings have uniqueness in its purpose.

Garden sheds are the most widely preferred for garden buildings. These structures are ideal for storing garden tools or outdoor equipment. They range in size from 4 ft by 4 ft to 14 ft by 10 ft and can either be purchased with a pent or apex style roof. Pent roofs are flat and taper toward the back of the shed while apex roofs have a point in the middle which creates a taller section in the centre of the shed. Garden workshops require more space inside than a shed as they may be used to store tools while a workbench is set up in the middle. You then need room to move around in there so the floor areas of these buildings normally begin at around 10ft by 12ft.


Summer houses are those which are generally larger than sheds for storage and will often mimic chalet characteristics such as an overhanging roof and porch. They are often designed with full or half length windows to give the interior an open feel even when the doors are closed. They often have double doors which open up to leave the majority of the front wall clear. Although there are many different styles they often have a pent style roof to maximize the space inside.


Garden office buildings offer an alternative to an extension to create office space. Similarly to summer houses these would normally have the majority of the front side glazed and a double door in the middle. This allows the maximum amount of light in during the daytime. To ensure it can be used for the maximum amount of time they often include insulated walls for the colder months and an electrical supply to power the various equipment needed to do your job and the lighting. Play house type of garden building provides endless amounts of fun for kids of all ages.


When these garden buildings are crafted they have specially rounded edges and concealed screw heads to make accidents as infrequent as possible. A petite house in your garden always compliments your living spaces and dwelling practicality, at any given time.

Read more »

Backyard Sports - Build Your Own Tennis Court

Platform tennis has become quite popular nowadays. This sport is being paid on a court 1/4 smaller than a lawn tennis court, racquets made of wood and a more rigid ball. The extraordinary twist comes from the screen fencing netted around the court which can also be played upon. When you have come to love the game, naturally you would want the convenience of having your own court.

If you are a hardcore sports person and have decided to build up a tennis in your backyard or by the side of your porch, make sure that you go into the process understanding the ins and outs. Firstly, you need to check out some companies in the Internet that are capable of constructing different types of courts within your property. Get an estimate from them on how much it will cost to erect a private court. In and around the Internet, you will also find a lot of links there for entities that can aid you in constructing a paddle tennis court. From start to finish, this type of project will seem like a mountain if you do not possess the information to help you choose the perfect tennis court for your home.


When beginning any tennis court project for your home, it is important to understand that the materials used in constructing a tennis court are not just about choosing the cheapest or more affordable ones. Instead, the materials you choose early on to construct your tennis court will ultimately affect how often and what kind of repairs you will need to make later on down the road. Furthermore, choosing cheap materials will also affect how a player moves on the tennis court, down to how the ball reacts to the surface you're playing on. Factors such as traction, speed, and slip all come into play and will greatly depend on only the highest quality of tennis court material.


You may then go to some community sites and look for things that you can use for your court. You will be amazed at what you will find on these sites from pool facilities to court amenities. You may even chance upon a second hand platform tennis court. This is quite possible because most of these courts are designed to be taken apart and reassembled in another location. If you get lucky and stumble upon a gold mine, you will save a lot of money.


Drop by home improvement stores or do-it yourself shops. You can purchase a lot of materials for your private court such as screens for the fencing, a variety of surfaces like rubber or boards. Of course, you have to be good at handling do-it-yourself projects. You can even involve the whole family in pitching in some work for the court.
If you need more reasons to take up platform tennis as a sport, consider the following facts. This is the only ball sport that is playable outdoors during winter. It is a simple sport to learn. It is not limited to any age bracket. This sport can be played by anybody from amateurs to professionals.


It's an opportunity for your community to have a court facility all year long. With the additional factor of the screens, the ball is kept in play longer, and you can device innovative moves. It is a superb sport that the whole family can benefit from. Its strategic game play can be addictive. The winter season will never be the same again.

Read more »

London Bridge is Falling Down?? - History of the London Bridge

London Bridge in the world today is not the same London Bridge that crossed the Thames at the time it was first constructed. Peter, a priest and chaplain of St. Mary's of Colechurch, started out the groundwork of the original bridge in 1176 to restore a wooden bridge (exorbitant to maintain and frequently burnt down) that had first been engineered by the Romans. The original London Bridge consisted of nineteen pointed arches, each of them with a gap averaging 7 meters, and constructed on 6-meter-wide piers. A twentieth opening in the bridge was spanned by a wooden drawbridge. With the construction of this bridge, an unusual effect was noticed - the tide roared through the narrow arches every day with terrific force. As a matter of fact, it was so massively impacted that it generated temporary 5-foot-high cataracts every day as it went in and out. A new sport based on this nifty effect was "shooting the bridge" - sliding through the arches in a small boat when the tide was turning.

Peter of Colechurch passed away in 1205, and his undertaking was concluded by three other London locals by 1209. The bridge, already rather confined for its function, became even narrower (about 4 meters wide) when stores and homes were built along both sides of the roadway right on the bridge itself. By 1358, 138 places of business were recorded in the tax rolls. And like most other older London buildings, the stores were built so that the upper floors stretched over the roadway. At last, the bridge became more like a long tunnel lined with shops, through which travelers and other people flowed. One can only imagine the smell, with the sheltered road, no real drainage, and lots of horses and people ! The houses were built so that they overhung the water as well as the roadway, and were anchored by tying them together across the street with arches of robust timber. In 1580, water mills added to the general chaos of the bridge.

But having so much on the bridge itself became threatening to dwellers and travelers. Only three years after it was first accomplished, a major fire affected its buildings, killing perhaps 3000 people when it jumped from one end of the bridge to the other, trapping firefighting crowds between the flames. The houses were quickly rebuilt - and in 1282 five of the bridge arches collapsed with the weight of winter ice. But they too were rebuilt along with their requisite buildings, and the bridge continued as London's sole crossing of the Thames until 1750, when Westminster Bridge opened.

At about this time, the designer of Westminster Bridge was hired to repair and renovate London Bridge. Redesign and repair was deemed necessary by the narrowness of the road, the huge supports of the bridge, which took up about a quarter of the river's width , and by the dangerous sport of shooting the bridge and other health hazards posed by the bridge. By 1762 the character of the bridge was changed. All the houses were gone, the roadway was 14 meters wide, and the two central arches replaced by one great arch, allowing much more convenient passage for larger boats.


However, this central arch proved problematic to sustain, and in the early 1800s another bridge was built a few meters away. The original London Bridge was demolished by 1832. The new bridge was called Rennie's Bridge. Designed by George Rennie and constructed by John Rennie, it was composed of only five arches, with the central span reaching 46 meters. Rennie's London Bridge had a very unusual ending. It lasted less than 140 years. Between 1968 and 1971, it was dismantled and shipped across the Atlantic to the United States, where it had been rebuilt in Lake Havasu City, where it still stands, passing Lake Havasu, 255 km south of Hoover Dam on the Colorado River. To take a glimpse of the London Bridge, Londoners have to fly ten thousand miles!

Credits goes to http://www.tain-con.com

Read more »

Enhance the Outdoor Living Spaces of Your Home - Hardscaping

Hardscapes are a beautiful way to add appealing choices to an outdoor living space. Making sure that you have an idea in mind research what products are available to achieve that look. Hardscaping has become a popular trend in recent years for folks looking to beautify the outside of their home. While landscape design deals with things like your trees, lawn and garden, hardscape design covers all the non-living stuff like your rocks, concrete, pathways etc. Homeowners who undertake a hardscape design project will usually end up with an exterior they will greatly enjoy, as well as enhance the value of their home. There are a few areas to focus on to make the hardscaping a success.

Once you decide to implement some hardscaping design elements into your garden, you will have to understand how these new additions will affect the drainage and water absorption of the soil in your garden. If the space is large there's the possibility of mixing hardscapes with landscapes, bring accents in with plant life and add walkways to gardens, fountains or even a beautiful statue or hidden gazebo. For smaller yards that don't have the vast space bring in a variety of blooming plants with beautiful scents that will permeate the air with a summer breeze.

There is no right or wrong way to achieve the benefits of hardscaping around your home but it should always compliment the surroundings. The hardscapes design should promote a continuation from the house into the yard. Coordinating the color schemes with the exterior of the house will only add to the design of the hardscaping. Getting hardscaping design into your home is something that will increase its overall value when done right. Remember, anything placed over the ground is going to have an impact on the overall water content of your garden lawn. If you plan to install a lot of brick paver into the landscape of your home, you will need to install water sprinkler systems to ensure that your vegetation will be able to meet its requirements.

In the end, you want to have a garden that not only is fully functional but can also provide you and your guests with a calm and relaxing atmosphere. Having fountains and pools can improve the ambiance of your garden, and help drown out noise pollution while attracting local fauna at the same time. Attractive stone walkways not only serve as a mere design element but also hide problem spots where grass and other flowering plants are slow to take root. Fences and rock walls can serve as effective wind barriers and improve privacy as well. If you have an eye for design, hardscaping will allow for features such as raised flower beds that will cut into the visual monotony of a flat garden. Incorporating hardscaping designs in your garden is not much of a job but it is important to keep in mind that adding such components would require you to understand that such additions would affect the natural drainage and water absorption of your garden.

Credits goes to http://www.tain-con.com

Read more »