Ephemeral Architecture and Painted Architecture

The object of this study is a group of architectural perspectives painted on the domes and walls of noble palaces in Apulia, in particular that the baronial palace in Botrugno, the Broquier palace in Trani, and the Manes palace in Bisceglie. The perspectives belong to the “Quadratura” genre that developed in Italy and Europe in the Baroque period, but the architectural solutions represented are specific of the Apulian regional context, of Neapolitan derivation, rather than linked to the noble models of the Emilian and Roman master experiences. These architectural perspectives can be considered belonging to that “immaterial cultural heritage,” as defined by the UNESCO Convention for the Protection of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of 2003, if we consider the cultural significance of these painting representations—as previously mentioned—for their relationship with the 16th-17th century painting season of “Quadratura,” for the massive production of treatises on perspective, as well as for the Baroque experiences and for the tradition in the use of “Festa” ephemeral architectures.

Photogrammetric Survey and 3DGIS Management of Mesh in the Integrated Investigation of Complex Sites

This chapter illustrates the results of an experimentation carried out by a group of multidisciplinary researchers from the ITC-CNR of L'Aquila and of archaeologists and engineers from the University of L'Aquila. This research project is based on the analysis of architectural and archaeological artefacts (the state of conservation of the artefacts, seismic vulnerability, stratigraphic analysis, construction phases) using methods linked to innovative digital technologies such as digital photogrammetric restitution, based on structure from motion (SfM) algorithms and the generation of photorealistic textures. The innovative methodological approach specifically refers to the management of archaeological data concerning the state of conservation of structures, damages and to their seismic vulnerability in a 3D GIS environment, with particular attention to three-dimensional stratigraphic readings of the artefacts.

Cultural Heritage Preservation in a Modernizing Africa

Cultural heritage preservation is a sine qua non for the effective technological, scientific, and economic development of nations across the world. This follows the theory stating that culture is life and that there is a cultural factor in technological development. In view of this truism, most African states and social institutions have these last years embarked on multifaceted tactics aimed at heritage conservation in their respective national territories. These preservation efforts have yielded only patchy fruits as they are confronted to the forces of modernism and globalization. Thus, modernism and globalization have continued to represent big threats to heritage preservation in many African countries. This chapter illustrates this thesis through a comparative study of cultural heritage management in Cameroon and Nigeria. The chapter begins by examining the extent to which heritage preservation is feasible in an era governed by modernism and globalization before exploring similarities and differences in the ways modernism and globalization affect heritage preservation in Nigeria and Cameroon.

Travelling Through History

The construction of underground urban transport lines in Rome has provoked in the past years the discovery and the destruction of numerous archaeological sites. The last decade has marked a significant cultural change in Italy in the relationship between infrastructure and archaeology, thanks to the development of new methodologies and successful experiences; thanks to the excavations for the construction, it has been possible to realize the largest archaeological campaigns for decades and open new perspectives to the involvement of findings in the structure of the everyday city. The case study of the new metro station San Giovanni ain Rome offers an example for the conservation of heritage through the tools of narration in a site where the archaeological layers have been removed but can still be perceivable thanks to a narrative system that envelops the passenger in a total experience, with a scientifically museum-like rigorous arrangement of information realized according to the speed of commuters.

Spatial Models of Color for Digital Color Restoration

This chapter presents an approach to unsupervised digital movie restoration. The approach is based on the idea of recovering the appearance of color instead of the original color signal. The rationale behind this choice is that very often the original color reference is missing in old films, and new films or digital coding can be subject to important gamut transformations. The authors apply algorithms that are designed to reflect the capabilities of the human vision system in automatically adjusting color and lightness variation in the scene.

Handbook of Research on Urban and Territorial Systems and the Intangible Dimension

Surveying has always been closely linked to the definition of cognitive framework to which it is connected. Carrying out a survey has always meant representing the geometry of the context of interest but also thoroughly investigating the historical dynamics, the tangible, behavioral, and performance-based characteristics. The dimensions of comfort, usually associated with the private, domestic environment, now extends to the urban and territorial context too: perhaps going beyond the sense of the threshold referred to by Walter Benjamin when he described the city as a house with its living rooms. A new concept of habitable city has developed, where we can live, according to Ortega y Gasset, not simply a place for estar (being) but for bienestar (wellbeing).

The Renaissance Proto-Parametrization

The chapter proposes the definition of a workflow aimed at the BIM modeling of historical architectures referable to the classical language of Renaissance treatises. Through the experimentation on a case study conditioned by pre-existences, the authors exploit the potential offered by BIM software to contain standardized and rewritable information through the management of the temporal phases. Starting from the discontinuous model, ideal geometries are defined using a continuous mathematical language. These geometries are gradually adapted to the case study by consecutive steps of modification. The different phases of the modeling are recorded in the database, favoring the transparency of the process. HBIM thus becomes an instrument not only of modeling and documentation, but also of analysis and interpretation of the architectural complexity of the historical built heritage.

Exhibit Design for Architecture

This chapter introduces a novel method of communication, based on an analytical and analogical fact-finding journey, aimed at comprehending an architectural design for a more extended and inclusive usership, in particular for visually impaired and blind people. The study focuses on the communication aspects of architecture and the methodology considered effective in architectural criticism, with the aim of attaining deep and real understanding of those principles that represent its tangible expression. Starting from an in-depth theoretical fact-finding analysis, the research suggests a slow and completely non-digital exhibition, available to normally sighted, visually impaired, and blind people, and also for an informed and a non-informed audience. The study was carried out with the support of Public Engagement Department of the MAXXI Museum in Rome (National Museum of the 21st Century Arts) as part of the plan for the accessibility of museum collections.

Cronocaos

This chapter questions the traditional approach to preservation as it was historically undertaken. It is based on the approach followed by Rem Koolhaas and his Office OMA-AMO, in the exhibition “Cronocaos,” at the 12th Edition of Venice Biennale (2010). The authors will show how globalization has had a homogenizing impact on the concept of preservation. There is an unequivocal need to find a new system to mediate between preservation and development. OMA proposes to focus on “what to erase” and not “what to keep,” avoiding pre-existing assumptions and working with a “tabula rasa beneath the thinning crust of our civilization.”

The Cathedral of St. Sophia in Ohrid, Macedonia

The church of St. Sophia in the town of Ohrid, a UNESCO world heritage site since 1980, is one of the oldest and, undoubtedly, one of the most significant protected monuments of culture in Macedonia. Since its “rediscovery” in the first decades of the 20th century, hundreds of publications have been devoted to the artistic heritage of Ohrid's cathedral, and to a lesser extent to its architecture and historical chronology. Nevertheless, the pioneer restoration project undertaken in the 1950s has not received sufficient scientific attention as yet. This research aims to address the then bold restoration methods and novel techniques in the most difficult of circumstances which, despite the transcribed period of more than sixty years, are as relevant to conservation science now as they have ever been.