Alfonso Ippolito

The Surveying and Representation Process Applied to Archaeology: A Quest for Invariants in a Highly Variable Context

The study and analysis of archaeological elements often swings from large sites to small objects. This variability in dimensions and typology actually determines an equal variability of problems encountered during the surveying and representation process so that it is hard to retrieve a reliable common theoretical and operational background able to guide the researcher through the various steps. The problems connected with the interpretation of data (and their lack of clarity) disturb in fact considerably the final goal of surveying: achieve the most profound knowledge of the object analyzed. Taking into consideration numerous survey campaigns carried out for years, this chapter seeks to present a modus operandi that seems to be indispensable for standardizing and regulating procedures of data collecting, elaborating and representing applied by our research team from the Department of History, Drawing and Restoration of Architecture (Sapienza—University of Rome), the aim being to make the final result scientific, i.e. more objective and correct. Together with a general methodological framing, we shall describe a number of research projects spanning from large sites (Petra), single buildings/architectural structures (The Temple of Divus Claudio, Rome) and small objects (Tombs and artifacts in Crustumerium – Rome).

Handbook of Research on Emerging Technologies for Architectural and Archaeological Heritage

In the last years 3D scanning has become an important resource in many fields, in particular it has played a key role in study and preservation of Cultural Heritage. Moreover today, thanks to the miniaturization of electronic components, it has been possible produce a new category of 3D scanners, also known as handheld scanners. Handheld scanners combine a relatively low cost with the advantage of the portability. The aim of this chapter is two-fold: first, a survey about the most recent 3D handheld scanners is presented. As second, a study about the possibility to employ the handheld scanners in the field of Cultural Heritage is conducted. In this investigation, a doorway of the Benedictine Monastery of Catania, has been used as study case for a comparison between stationary Time of Flight scanner, photogrammetry-based 3D reconstruction and handheld scanning. The study is completed by an evaluation of the meshes quality obtained with the three different kinds of technology and a 3D modeling reproduction of the case-study doorway. Hand Held 3D Scanning for Cultural Heritage: Experimenting Low Cost Structure Sensor Scan Dario Allegra University of Catania, Italy Giovanni Gallo University of Catania, Italy Laura Inzerillo University of Palermo, Italy Marcella Lombardo University of Catania, Italy Filippo L. M. Milotta University of Catania, Italy Cettina Santagati University of Catania, Italy

Managing Cultural Heritage: Digital Documentation and Archiving

Presented in the study is an analysis of methodologies for digital representing, documenting and popularizing cultural heritage through digital archives. The development and perfecting of techniques for acquiring and elaborating photorealistic 3D models, made them pivotal elements for popularizing information of objects on the scale of architectonic structures. The experiment conducted on the Gates of Bologna aims at presenting the continuity of work starting with the acquisition and elaboration of 3D models created with the help of expeditious methodologies, then comparing various systems to finally achieve a systematization of heterogeneous data within a digital platform, bringing out its potentialities and limits. The objective is to present the way in which digital technologies allow us to document, preserve, evaluate and popularize cultural heritage by structuring out an “open” system of cognition and therefore always lending itself to implementation.

From Worksite Tracing Drawings to Integrated Digital Models for Reconstructing and Preserving Cultural Heritage

The method of incising in stone the working drawing of structural and decorative elements at the real scale (Αναγραϕeυζ, Anagrapheus) goes back to ancient times. This technic was applied to conceive, represent and control the execution and the assembly of architectonic elements. In more recent literature on the subject focus of attention has shifted from the purely archaeological point of view to that of architectonic representation. The new approach is based on reading guidelines, geometries, traces of assembly and workmanship, wear surfaces—all employed in constructing architecture. Worksite tracing are executive drawings of the design that the architect realized to convey his design idea at a detailed scale. This operative methodology was used in ancient times in Greece and in Imperial Rome and it survived into later periods: romanesque, gothic and renaissance as evidenced by numerous cathedrals in France, England, Spain and Italy. The present research examines drawings found in the cathedral of Terni. Through a careful historical analysis and an integrated survey of the incisions characterized by massive acquisition supplemented with traditional methodologies, digital models have been constructed providing an important contribution to their cognition and preservation.

Quality or Quantity: The Role of Representation in Archaeological Architecture

Documentation of archaeological structures encompasses a multidisciplinary approach that enables analysis and interpretation from many fields. Nowadays, the representation of the archaeological-architectural survey is one of the most dynamic areas thanks to the development of systems for the acquisition and alignment of data describing the geometry, appearance and context of objects. The construction of models is in fact the starting point for all those activities aiming at the knowledge of archaeological heritage. Different operations - from cataloguing to preservation, from designing to restoration and valorization - begin to show the enormous potentialities connected with models obtained through 3D surveys.

The past is never dead. It's not even past. 3D models for the knowledge of cultural heritage

The research aims to define the operative procedure for constructing digital archives based on three-dimensional models generated by massive and fast acquisition of data regarding objects of architecture. Today digital objects have become a tradition in the cultural production and a business cycle with the objective to disseminate and communicate cultural data. The problem centers on a definition of data necessary for setting up digital archives. These data will be extracted from material obtained from surveys as well as from informative documentation and need to be chosen and structured. Hence the research aims at identifying the kind of information, tangible and intangible, principal and essential of the Architectural object and classifying them into distinctive and characteristic categories which make it possible to cognize the given object.

Digital Documentation: Villa Borghese

The knowledge of historical and architectural heritage is today reinforced by the growing use of digital instruments serving the purpose of documenting and disseminating data. The development techniques to build 3D models made them pivotal elements in popularizing information on objects on the scale of architectonic structures. Digital archives supplement 3D models with heterogeneous data (2D models, images, texts, video materials, bibliographical documents) with the purpose to preserve, evaluate and popularize cultural heritage (CH) by devising an open system of knowledge. This study puts forward a critical operative method and some guidelines to record, construct, manage, visualize and navigate 3D models with a view to achieving a full comprehension of the architecture in their own context, permitting to discover their inter-relationships through a digital archive.

Niccolò Tartaglia (1500c.–1557)

The article presents Niccolo Tartaglia as a mathematician active in various fields of science such as mathematics, arithmetic, mechanics, geometry as well as ballistics and military architecture. Although he won general recognition for the Tartaglia’s Triangle and his solution to cubic equations, he made important discoveries in ballistics, geometry and military architecture. Among them were calculations of the trajectory of cannon balls, the volume of complex figures and requirements for constructing fortifications able to resist enemy attacks. But his activity remains of interest today mainly because he knew how to fuse theoretical knowledge with practical experience—the fundamental principle of modern science.

The Silk Mill “ alla Bolognese ”

The silk mill of Bologna is an important example of the proto-industrial system of factory production. The present paper examines the distribution of silk mills in Bologna in an attempt to follow its historical development and delineate their material and technological structure. The technology which underlies the functioning of the mills is analyzed while emphasizing the unique nature of these artifacts in the history of machinery. Focus is basically placed on the structure/machine aspect of the mill bringing out certain aspects of the history of technology and material culture.

Drawing of Carlo Scarpa’s Villa Ottolenghi

There has always existed an inextricable interrelation between architecture and drawing. On the other hand it is obvious that architecture can manifest itself as an expressive literary form (studies of treatises, etc.) as a construction (i.e. as realized usable spaces, etc.) or precisely as drawing (i.e. as a thought-form expressed through signs). Starting from these points the research traces—through historical interpretation, critical analysis and the use of informatics utilizing virtualization as an element of representation—the development of the design idea and the construction of Carlo Scarpa’s Casa Ottolenghi.