Visualising an Uncertain Past: Procedural Modelling at Portus

Positioned between the two harbours of Portus, Rome’s Imperial port, once stood an enormous building built on massive concrete piers. The vestiges of this structure (“building five”) were visible above ground when I visited the site for the first time in 2011, my first season working on the Portus Project. Remains were dotted across the site, often masked by overgrowth, some incorporated into the standing remains of the Late Antique city wall. Surveying these remains, what this building looked like and its function remained unclear. The results of a geophysical survey on site allowed a clearer picture to emerge, showing repetitive features running between the two harbours, lines of piers that divided this building (60m wide and over 200m long) into a series of bays.