View source for Tablinum

{{Short description|Room between the peristyle and atrium in Roman home architecture}}
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[[File:Domusitalica.svg|thumb|upright=1.4|Architectural details of a {{lang|la|Domus italica}} with the {{lang|la|tablinum}} marked number 5]]
In [[Roman architecture]], a '''{{lang|la|tablinum}}''' (or {{lang|la|tabulinum}}, from {{lang|la|tabula}}, board, picture) was a room in a ''[[domus]]'' (house) generally situated on one side of the [[cavaedium|atrium]] and opposite to the entrance; it opened in the rear onto the [[peristyle]], with either a large window or only an anteroom or curtain. The walls may be richly decorated with [[fresco]] pictures, and often busts of the family were arranged on pedestals on the two sides of the room.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Tablinum|volume=26|page=337}}</ref>

== Description ==
[[File:The tablinum of the House of Menander (Regio I), Pompeii (14978936569).jpg|thumb|left|The ''tablinum'' of the [[Casa del Menandro|House of Menander]] (Regio I), Pompeii]]
The ''tablinum'' was the office in a Roman house, the owner's centre for business, where he would receive his clients. According to one hypothesis, it was originally the master bedroom.{{sfn|Maquinay|2025}}
<!--It might be separated from the atrium by a wooden screen.<ref>[[:File:The wooden partition which separated the tablinum from the atrium of the House of the Wooden Partition, the tablinum is decorated in the third style with a fine mosaic floor, Herculaneum (17301718125).jpg]]</ref>-->
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==''Takhtabush''==
{{See also|Windtower}}
{{lang|ar|Takhtabush}} is the [[Arabic language|Arabic]] term for a tablinum. Like the ancient Roman tablinum, it opens onto a heavily shaded courtyard and, on the other side, a rear garden. Unlike the Roman tablinum, the garden side is closed with a {{lang|ar|[[mashrabiya]]}} lattice<ref name=Fathy>{{cite book|last=Fathy|first=Hassan|title=Natural Energy and Vernacular Architecture|chapter=Chapter 5: The wind factor in air movement|chapter-url=http://archive.unu.edu/unupress/unupbooks/80a01e/80A01E00.htm}}</ref> (Roman tablinums may have had open-weave curtains{{citation needed|date=August 2020}}.)

If there is a wind, it tends to blow down into the windward court and up out of the leeward court.<ref name=Fathy/> A draft can, however, be driven by convection. One of the courts will generally be hotter than the other; which is hotter may vary.<ref name=Fathy/><ref name=PDEC>{{cite journal |last1=Ford |first1=Brian |title=Passive downdraught evaporative cooling: principles and practice |journal=Architectural Research Quarterly |date=September 2001 |volume=5 |issue=3 |pages=271–280 |doi=10.1017/S1359135501001312 |s2cid=110209529 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/6317345C8FB8B405AADE7BA99CD62E8B/S1359135501001312a.pdf/passive_downdraught_evaporative_cooling_principles_and_practice.pdf}}</ref>  The courtyard is often pale, paved and narrow, and may be shaded by an awning and [[evaporatively cooled]] by a fountain. The garden is generally darker in colour, but evaporatively-cooled by [[evapotranspiration]]{{citation needed|date=August 2020}}. The larger court will generally be less shaded by its own walls, and more exposed to hot winds; it may also be less sheltered by surrounding rooms.<ref name=Fathy/><ref name=egypt_trad/> From both wind pressure and convection forces, the hottest air in the hotter court rises and escapes over the wall, pulling fresh air from the cooler courtyard through the {{lang|ar|takhtabush}} into the hotter court.<ref name=Fathy/>{{rp|Ch. 6}}<ref name=egypt_trad>{{cite conference |last1=Mohamed |first1=Mady A. A. |title=Traditional Ways of Dealing with Climate in Egypt |journal=Sustainable Architecture and Urban Development |date=2010 |pages=247–266 |conference=The Seventh International Conference of Sustainable Architecture and Urban Development (SAUD 2010) |editor=S. Lehmann |editor2=H.A. Waer |editor3=J. Al-Qawasmi |publisher=The Center for the Study of Architecture in Arab Region (CSAAR Press)|location= Amman, Jordan |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273122348}} ([https://www.irbnet.de/daten/iconda/CIB22610.pdf low-res bw version])</ref>  The cooler court is replenished with air from the side (drawn through doors, evaporatively-cooled projecting {{lang|ar|mashrabiya}} bow windows, and small vents in the wall), or from above{{citation needed|date=August 2020}}, which cools by contact with masonry and evaporative cooling. The {{lang|ar|takhtabush}} thus has a strong cross-breeze from the cooler court. The breeze is at least partly driven by convection, and may also be driven by wind pressure and evaporative cooling,<ref name=Fathy/><ref name=egypt_trad/><ref name=PDEC/> so the gardens and courtyards are used as [[windcatcher]]s.

Similar systems may be used to create a cool, breezy public roofed space between two public squares.<ref name=Fathy/>

==See also==
* ''[[Tsubo-niwa]]'' – a similar traditional Japanese architectural element
* [[Windcatcher]] - an architectural element used to create cross ventilation and passive cooling

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|last=Maquinay|first=Alexia|year=2025|title=Le tablinum à Pompéi. Formes, fonctions, décors|trans-title=The tablinum at Pompeii. Forms, functions, decoration|publisher=Editions Mergoil|location=Drémil-Lafage|isbn=978-2-35518-151-1}}
*{{cite journal |last1=Mohamed |first1=Mady Ahmed |title=The mastery of the Takhtabush as a paradigm traditional design element in the hot zone climate |journal=EQA - International Journal of Environmental Quality |date=30 January 2018 |volume=28 |pages=1–11 |doi=10.6092/issn.2281-4485/7661 |url=https://eqa.unibo.it/article/view/7661 |language=en |issn=2281-4485}}
*{{cite journal |last1=Ford |first1=Brian |title=Passive downdraught evaporative cooling: principles and practice |journal=Architectural Research Quarterly |date=September 2001 |volume=5 |issue=3 |pages=271–280 |doi=10.1017/S1359135501001312 |s2cid=110209529 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/6317345C8FB8B405AADE7BA99CD62E8B/S1359135501001312a.pdf/passive_downdraught_evaporative_cooling_principles_and_practice.pdf}}

[[Category:Ancient Roman architectural elements]]
[[Category:Rooms]]
[[Category:Passive ventilation]]

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