Designing for Luxury on the Bay of Naples: Villas and Landscapes (c. 100 B.C.E.–79 C.E.)

Roman luxury villas on the Bay of Naples (c. 100 B.C.E.–79 C.E.) were designed to maximize sensory engagement with the landscape, challenging traditional architectural norms. Unlike urban domus with inward-focused symmetry and circulatory cores, these villas lacked a performative center, instead employing 'perforated space'—a design principle that prioritized fluid connectivity, air circulation, and visual links to the surrounding environment. This approach, evident in the second and fourth styles of wall painting, redefined domestic architecture as an extension of nature rather than a protected cave-like structure. The study analyzed five villas using dispersed building perspectives, revealing their multifunctional, landscape-integrated designs through detailed design analysis and archaeological data. Key findings include the absence of Vitruvian symmetry in villa architecture and the emphasis on water features (fountains, piscinae) as central sensory elements.

von Stackelberg, K. T. (2015). Designing for Luxury on the Bay of Naples: Villas and Landscapes (c. 100 B.C.E.–79 C.E.). Phoenix, 69(3-4), 444–445. https://doi.org/10.1353/phx.2015.0001