Editing Ancient Roman architecture (section)

=== Hypocaust ===
[[File:2005-09-17 10-01 Provence 646 St Rémy-de-Provence - Glanum.jpg|thumb|[[Hypocaust]] in [[Saint-Rémy-de-Provence]], France]]
A [[hypocaust]] was an ancient Roman system of [[underfloor heating]], used to heat buildings with hot air. The Roman architect Vitruvius, writing about the end of the 1st century BC, attributes their invention to [[Sergius Orata]]. Many remains of Roman hypocausts have survived throughout Europe, western Asia, and northern Africa. The hypocaust was an invention which improved the hygiene and living conditions of citizens, and was a forerunner of modern [[central heating]].

Hypocausts were used for heating hot baths (''[[thermae]]''), houses and other buildings, whether public or private. The floor was raised above the ground by pillars, called [[pilae stacks]], with a layer of tiles, then a layer of concrete, then another of tiles on top; and spaces were left inside the walls so that hot air and smoke from the [[Furnace (house heating)|furnace]] would pass through these enclosed areas and out of flues in the roof, thereby heating but not polluting the interior of the room.