Modelli e immagini per la rappresentazione dell’architettura

The present contribution examines the innovative aspects of represen-tation in the creation of virtual models and digital images for archi-tecture. The aim is to culturally collocate a number of current tools within the wider framework of artistic and scientific knowledge, in or-der to understand the connection between highly imaginative inspira-tion and objective requirements in the configuration of architectural forms. For this purpose, several categories of digital instrumentation used for representation are described to identify the possible influences on formal values, on their geometrical properties and on their application to past or present, real or virtual, architecture. Additionally, the study experiments directly with how to create images and models, in order to verify the effective influence of this instrumentation in the fields connected to architectural representation. The IT tools are evaluated in relation to the function they hold in mediating between traditional knowledge and the transformations of contemporary graphical language. The first part of the contribution is dedicated to geometry, because it is the fundamental premise in identifying the aforementioned framework of artistic and scientific knowledge. Indeed, before breaking its rules due to other eventual paradigms, traditional geometry must first and foremost be understood by those generating or using the models and images for architecture. The contribution has its foundation in the practice of representation both using traditional and digital methods, and it includes themes on mathematics, history of science, and computer applications for drawing. The examined topics are enriched with architectural examples, which are not exhaustive with regards to this broad theme, but provide an immediate practical reference to identify the categories taken into account. Observations are then made about the basics of geometry and the working methods necessary to make adequate choices, which will sig-nificantly determine the end result. Hence, it is essential to provide an overview of the various branches of geometry in order to broaden its foundations . Descriptive geometry plays a fundamental role in spatial representation, especially if intended as the application of projective geometry. However, focus is also extended to other geometries – i.e. topology, which becomes particularly significant. The second part of the research analyses several topics on the digital methods of configuration of architectural forms. Planar and spatial tessellations are taken into account not for their ancient tradition, but for the potential offered by the speed of their computing capacity, as well as their potential role in the evolution of architecture configuration according to less traditional standards, which are mostly connected to contemporary (apparently chaotic) ar-chitectural language, i.e. the language converting traditional symme-tries in the logics of the attractor or the Voronoi diagram. The methods and compromises in representing and realising curved surfaces, allow an architectural typology (exemplified by geodetic domes) to be integrated into the methods used in digital graphics together with some strategies of parametric modelling related to the pannellisation of the same surfaces. On the theme of transformation, the traditional standards of pro-portion are compared to fractal geometry, as they both focus on the relation between the compositional whole with its single parts, which has affinities with architecture and urban structures. The third part of the contribution deals with the research and ex-periments carried out using images and models. The model (material or virtual) is the ideal tool to simulate existing or possible phenomena. In fact, thanks to solid modelling, digital drawing can be considered as something more than a simple aid to draw precise lines and manage graphical attributes and renderings. Parametric modelling is identified as an important element in the study, because it dynamically connects formal and functional necessity. The contribution by Andrea Anselmo offers a viewpoint that starts from the origin of the material model to take it back through several significant evolutionary stages of virtual configurations to producing material models using robotic manufacturing. The contribution by Giacomo Pala proposes interpretations of the parametric model phenomenon by analysing the theory of shape and experimenting on some strategies for architectural configuration. Furthermore, attention is given to the possibility of using current IT tools to apply modelling to movement, thus creating new spaces (real or virtual) that can be explored in ways that go beyond the traditional rules of representation. The potential of images is also increased thanks to the significant theoretical and operational changes in architectural communication, which involves hypertext structures, able to receive and share heterogeneous data in a dynamic and interactive way. Finally, the contribution describes several experiences linked with the use of digital–photography techniques for the study and valorisation of cultural heritage, by creating models and images derived from point clouds or spherical photos. These practical applications are not used for a mere display of cutting–edge technology – on the contrary, they are used to document for an exploratory or conservational purpose and to make cultural heritage more accessible. As a whole, the study draws on the research carried out within the Research Project of National Interest about the influence of digital tools on the discipline of scientific representation (P.R.I.N. 2008, “The innovation of Descriptive Geometry”; scientific coordinator: Riccardo Migliari; Genoa’s Team supervisor: Maura Boffito) and on their ap-plication to the study of perspective representations (P.R.I.N. 2010/11, “Architectural Perspective: digital conservation, distribution and research“; scientific coordinator: Riccardo Migliari; Genoa's Team su-pervisor: Maura Boffito). Having described the contents of the contribution, it is also neces-sary to specify its omissions, dictated by the writer’s decisions or often by difficulties encountered. The aim is to take into consideration only the themes on which adequate documentation, both scientific and ar-chitectural, can be provided. In order to achieve this aim, it was espe-cially necessary to use the tools connected with architectural repre-sentation. Architectural examples have been selected to illustrate the examined topics, but are often limited in that they are examples of a specific geometrical characteristic, even if an in–depth contribution could be written on each one of them, due to their cultural and creative sig-nificance. The topics are often limited to their function as support for the theory this contribution is based upon: the relationship between geometry, architectural representation and digital innovation. The aim is to delineate a precise framework able to include pertinent references and provide in–depth elements of analysis for each topic. The writer decided on the method to classify the topics and the in-ternal references are limited to the essential, because, even though a higher number of references could have helped in understanding the complexity of the researched topics, in this case they would have led to a chaotic framework. The decision of dividing the contribution into three chapters has of-ten required forcing some topics into a given chapter, but this simpli-fication was regarded as functional, in order to focus on one topic at a time. The sources used for the various subjects are not homogeneous, both in number and in type, because they encompass various fields, from representation to architecture, and they often include texts from historical and scientific disciplines.