Giovanna Spadafora

Geometric Constructive Traces in Drawings by Francesco Borromini

Here some results are presented from the ongoing research of the analysis of the drawings by Francesco Borromini, preserved at the Albertina in Vienna, relating to designs of cupolas, in order to highlight the geometric constructions and the proportional relationships in function of the realization of the projects. In fact, besides the symbolic geometries traceable especially in the most famous buildings, such as the San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane or Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza, evidenced even by Borromini himself, other and more decisive geometries are revealed by carefully observing the signed drawings. The research methodology adopted is based on comparing what emerged from the analysis of the drawings, the study of the treatises concerning the construction methods of the cupolas and the results obtained from the survey by means of a 3D laser scanner. The survey, in fact, becomes the tool to ascertain the correspondence between the theoretical form underlying the drawings, and the realized form, including the provisional works that determine the geometric conformation, verifying the link between the geometric-graphic reasoning related to the load distribution and the consequent dimension of the components.

Methodology of Analysis and Virtual Recomposition: The Case of Retrosi, Amatrice

This paper is an initial report on an interdisciplinary project regarding an integrated methodology for analyzing architectural heritage damaged by earthquake, combining 3D survey, critical survey and virtual reconstruction. The case study using this methodology was Retrosi, in the municipality of Amatrice (RI), Italy, damaged by earthquakes on August 24th and on October 30th, 2016. Researchers from different disciplines (Representation, Restoration, Building Science), worked together to obtain an analytical understanding of the building criticalities caused by the earthquakes. The method is based on a semantic model linked to a database in which specific building elements, constructive, structural, masonry types etc. are classified as data, that includes instabilities and damages.

Viewsheds and Cultural Landscape. A Geometrical approach to Visual Spatial Analysis.

The present contribution is part of an ongoing research on the historical center of Manziana and the visual-perspective relationships that characterize the surrounding area. Through the use of territorial model and satellite imagery, the verification of intervisibility presents itself as a tool to identify which alignments and which visual references may still be identified today, and which of these may be inserted in the course of environmental enhancement. Here, we present the results obtained in the experimental implementation aimed at identifying a geometrical method implemented via instruments of generative modeling for the analysis of the characteristics of intervisibility within a territory.