CHANGES IN VILLA CONTRUCTION THROUGH HISTORY

KATARZYNA ŁAKOMY

The evolution of villa construction dates back to ancient times and continues until today, however its spatial and artistic shape has evolved over the centuries, together with cultural, economic and philosophical changes. The concept of the urban villa integrally reflects the traditions of other buildings of this type such as suburban and country villas. As the name shows, the character of this residential house referred to its location and was usually a result of functional conditions. However, the concept of a villa, corresponding with symbolic, philosophical or naturalistic plots, indicates that this kind of architecture was strongly connected with deeper meanings. Current studies on this subject focused rather on the suburban type of villas. However considerations over the municipal form of this kind of building are not possible without continuous references to villa suburbana as well as dependencies between them. The main foundation of the present article is the specification of the changing forms of the urban villa, influenced by concepts and relations to other types of villa construction, from antiquity to the genesis of the urban villa in the industrial époque.

Key words: residential architecture, villa architecture, development of villa construction, urban villa