New Year's News and Notes

After another work-filled few months, I think that I've got enough news to justify a blog update. Things that are happening at the moment: 

1. TRAC 2012 Poster: I'm putting together a poster summarizing my work on the Casa del Menandro model for TRAC 2012 in Frankfurt. The poster will focus on the techniques used to construct the model as well as the results of this process; particular attention will be given to role that boundaries played in negotiating the relationship between "public" and "private" space within the house.

 2. Classical Urbanism: I am, once again, teaching a course on ancient cities through the University of Edinburgh's Open Studies program. The course begins on January 16th, and registration is open through the 14th. More information is available here.

3. The Form and Function of Boundaries in the Campanian House: This paper, which synthesizes some of the data from the DOPAHP's second phase, will be included in the forthcoming book Privata Luxuria: Towards an Archaeology of Intimacy, edited by Anna Anguissola. The volume should be available in the spring/early summer. 

As work on the dissertation continues, I suspect that there will be less need to update the blog (unless readers show a strong desire to proof my chapters). However, I'll do my best to provide relevant information as it becomes available. And to my friends and colleagues heading to the AIA Conference this weekend – I'll see you in Philadelphia!

Casa del Menandro Model Complete

After 5 months of work, the model of the Casa del Menandro is finally complete. Who knew that attempting to recreate every minute architectural detail of an incredibly complex structure would be so time-consuming? Now that the thing is finished, however, I have to say that I’m pretty pleased with it. The model has been constructed in two different forms: one with boundaries and one without. A video of the unbounded model can be found below -- it contains a few moments in which the program had a difficult time rendering the shading correctly, but otherwise it turned out pretty well.

And here are some images of the bounded version:

One thing that I have definitely learned regarding SketchUp: it does not like irregular plans/structures. And because the plans of most Pompeiian houses are not orthogonal, the process of linking walls/floors/roofs together can prove to be very, very difficult. If someone out there happens to know how to model irregular/multi-planar shapes in SketchUp without using multiple triangles or polygons, I would certainly be interested in learning about the technique!

Classics PG Seminar

For folks in and around Edinburgh: I will be giving an expanded version of the EAA paper in the first meeting of this year's Classics Postgraduate Seminar Series on Thursday, October 13th. The talk will start at 5 PM in the Meadows Lecture Theatre, Old Medical Quad. A full schedule of this semester's seminars is available here. 

EAA 2011 Paper

Just a quick note to inform those who might be interested: I will be giving a paper at the European Association of Archaeologists annual meeting in Oslo this September. The tentative title is "Rethinking the Pompeian House: A Functional Model"; it's currently situated in the 2nd General Session (devoted solely to classical archaeology, I believe). This paper is essentially the culmination of some ideas that have been floating around my head for a while now. I've been troubled by the over-reliance on the architectural/textual models that have long provided the foundation for the study of houses at Pompeii for some time, and, utilizing my data in concordance with recent artefactual analyses, have been toying with some new techniques that may allow for a reconsideration of the use of domestic space from a functional (rather than aesthetic/architectural) perspective. 

Modeling Menander

At the moment, I’m in the middle of constructing a Sketchup model of the atrium and peristyle in the Casa del Menandro, and it’s proving to be a task far more daunting than I had anticipated. Because many of the 3D models built to represent houses at Pompeii have fallen into the trap of excluding doors and partitions from the doorways (this seems to be a universal oversight), I’m trying to put together a model that will more accurately represent the functionality of these features in domestic space. But, being a bit of a perfectionist, I’ve found myself attempting to recreate the architectural design of the house in ridiculous detail (one should only spend so many hours crafting dentils on the pediment of a lararium); it’s a bit hard to know where to stop. Nonetheless, even in this early phase, the model is starting to look pretty cool. And though I haven’t constructed any of the doors yet, it appears that this could prove to be a useful tool for reassessing the importance of boundaries in the “public” parts of the house. Here are some  screenshots of the model in progress:

Atrium

Peristyle

Fauces and beyond