Ancient Roman - Insula

In the Ancient Roman times they used to build apartments housing for the lower and middle classes of people. These apartments were called Insula. 

Insulae were lived in by large families. Most of these apartments were separated into two sections, living quarters in the upstairs of the apartments and shops and businesses on the bottom. Although most Insulae look the same, it was very common for them to have a specific name, usually which referred to the family member that owned the building. 

Although these apartment buildings helped reduce a the number of homeless people on the streets of Rome, they were far from ideal. 

These houses were originally made of wood and about three or four storeys high. However these large buildings became massive fire hazards and were eventually built using bricks and concrete. Most of these apartments on the upper levels did not have any kind of heating, latrines or running water. However apartments on the bottom floors were much more expensive than upper floor apartments because they were easy to access, had latrines and also had running water. 

Apartment housing would be extremely noisy because of the two hundred people on average living in each block and the businesses which were at the bottom. The rooms also had windows without glass which the citizens would throw household waste and human excrement onto the streets beneath them. 

Above an below are lots of examples of ancient Roman Insulae. These are my visual references which will help me throughout the project.