In the Space and in the Time. Representing Architectural Ideas by Digital Animation

Since the late Nineties, digital architectural animation emerged as one of the main methods for representing design ideas. The ‘spectacle of architecture' created by digital representation of space and time, arose as one of the most effective media for the prefiguration of architectural design. The great complexity of architectural video's production quickly led to the birth of new professionals and creative companies specialized in modelling, rendering, animation, graphics, montage, editing and post production. The author investigates on the methods, techniques and languages of the fourth-dimensional representation of architecture, almost unexplored area of research thus far, by relating them with the architects' personal poetics. To support observations, discoveries and theses, this paper provides analysis and critics of several case studies and traces an ideal interpretative path, considering both to the changing technologies and the emerging specific languages

Geometry of vaulted systems in the treatises by Guarino Guarini

[EN] Guarini first develops a rigorous and systematic discourse on vaulted systems. In three treatises: Architettura Civile, Euclides adauctus, and Modo di misurare le fabriche, he described the geometric nature of the vaults, the principles of geometry and their practices in the stereotomy, and the measurement of the vaults’ surfaces and volumes, respectively. In this paper, moving from previous studies, the significant relationships between the Architettura Civile and Modo di misurare le fabriche are deepened, also in light to the theoretical bases established in the Euclides adauctus. Graphical analyses and reconstructive digital models, linking the texts to the original diagrams and drawings of the treatises, allow to highlight the role of geometry in Guarini’s theorization and the logic of shapes’ composition at the basis of his inventions, and constitute a knowledge base to recognize and interpret the geometric structure of the vaults in Baroque built heritage.Spallone, R. (2019). Geometry of vaulted systems in the treatises by Guarino Guarini. EGE Revista de Expresión Gráfica en la Edificación. 0(11):79-93. https://doi.org/10.4995/ege.2019.12872OJS799301

Vero, falso, finto. Rappresentazioni digitali di paesaggi urbani in trasformazione fra comunicazione e seduzione. True, false, fake. Digital representations of urban landscapes subject to transformation between communication and seduction

La rappresentazione della trasformazione di paesaggi urbani, grazie agli strumenti offerti dalla convergenza al digitale, sempre più si avvale di prodotti multimediali in cui la commistione fra reale e virtuale avviene senza soluzione di continuità. Nelle prefigurazioni così generate vero, falso e finto si sovrappongono e confondono, esercitando un'innegabile potere seduttivo. Attraverso l'analisi di alcuni casi studio riferiti a recenti interventidi riqualificazione urbana in ambito europeo e di esperienze personalmente condotte si discuterà dei limiti, delle derive e delle potenzialità di tali sistemi di rappresentazione e comunicazione. The representation of transformation of urban landscapes, thanks to the tools offered by the digital convergence, more and more uses of multimedia outputs where the mix between real and virtual is done seamlessly. In the simulations created, true, false, and fake overlap and merge, exerting an undeniable seductive power. Through the analysis of case studies referred to recent intervention of urban regeneration in Europe and experiences personally conducted I will discuss about the limits, the drifts and the potential of these systems of representation and communication

Guarini’s models for the drawing of the ‘regular fortress’. Comparison with the pentagonal citadels in Turin and Modena.

The author who has studied on several occasions the relationship between geometry and design in Guarini’s work, presented at the last Fortmed 2015 a research culminating in the drawing of a geometric deconstruction concerning the ‘regular fortress’, a graphic scheme drawn by Guarini in the Trattato di Fortificatione (1676), which shows some similarities with the Citadel of Turin depicted in the Theatrum Sabaudiae. The present research arises as a progression of this earlier investigation and deepens, thanks to some refinements of the previous deconstruction and new graphical analyses, the comparison, in terms of shape and dimension, between Guarini’s scheme and that of two citadels - Turin and Modena - Guarini certainly knew, both for having seen them directly, and for having examined their representations by numerous drawings and views

Talking to the Eyes by Drawing: Design Representations in the Magazines in the Mid-19th-Century

Since the 1840s in Germany, England and France, the architectural magazines, born in the last years of the 18th-century, have been considered a privileged medium for the spread of architectural debate and topicality. Driven by continuous improvements in printing techniques, design representations have increased and been integrated with texts in ever more organic ways, reflecting the need for an ambit in which the respective professional skills are defined. New architectural typologies, materials and construction techniques are shared through drawings that, in the different geographical areas, take on particular features, which are linked to artistic culture, architectural debate and the representation methods developed in the Enlightenment schools and proposed in the coeval treatises

Architettura - ri-Costruzione - Geometria: un percorso conoscitivo applicato allo studio delle volte "planteriane" in Torino

Le volte planteriane, dal nome dall'architetto Plantery attivo a Torino dai primi del ‘700, sono composte da una volta principale in cui si innestano voltine secondarie, assiali e angolari rispetto alla pianta, che consentono di coprire ambienti unitari ottenendo effetti di leggerezza e ariosità anche con frecce ridotte. La loro diffusione, fino agli anni ‘80 del secolo, in spazi di rappresentanza come gli atri dei palazzi, e la ricchezza delle variazioni sul tema legittimano una ricerca, che si avvale del rilevamento e della modellazione digitale, sulle relazioni fra i modelli geometrici e l'architettura realizzata, mediate dall'uso dei materiali, dalle tecniche costruttive e dagli stilemi decorativi. Plantery's vaults, by the name of the architect working in Turin since first years of ‘700, are composed by a main vault intersected by some axial and angular secondary vaults. Plantery's vaults allow to roof over unitary spaces obtaining effects of lightness also by small rises. Their diffusion, up to the ‘80s of the century, in boardrooms as palaces halls, and the richness of variations on the theme, justifies a research, that makes use of survey and digital modeling. This research is focused on the relationships between geometric models and built architecture, connected by use of materials, construction techniques and decorative styles

Contemporary design drawings as cultural heritage: interpretation and communication. Towards a digital archive of Rosani's industrial projects.

Contemporary design drawings represent an immense and quite complex cultural heritage to be interpreted, communicated, preserved and publicised. Digital technologies - and the convergence they provide - have much to offer, for example in safeguarding the iconographic heritage ascribed to the field of so-called minor architecture, otherwise in danger of oblivion. Among the prerogatives of digital representation, archive drawings could be used to create models, animations and dynamic interactive exploration tools, which could then be applied to selected examples. This methodology would allow us to reconstruct different design hypotheses, to break down buildings into thematic interpretations and to provide access to otherwise inaccessible buildings. This essay intends to develop these considerations and to propose applications for digital technologies in relation to the Rosani Industrial Architecture Studio Archive, our case study. The Rosani Architecture Studio was founded by Nino Rosani, who received his training in the technical department of the Lancia automobile company in Turin, and later taken over by his son Paolo. In continuity with Nino’s prior experience, the studio was mainly involved in projects for major and mediumsized industries based in Italy and abroad. It obtained prestigious assignments and collaborated with several masters of contemporary architecture, such as Giò Ponti on the design of Lancia Office Building in Turin (1954-‘57)

Parametric Thinking: Recognizing the "Architectural Formulas" in Cultural Built Heritage by Parametric Digital Modelling

Parametric digital modeling is today one of the most interesting tools on the international architectural design scene. At the same time it is one of the areas on which architectural criticism debates for some time. The use of parametric methods throughout the whole design process is favored by the rapid evolution of hardware and software devices and the everincreasing programming capabilities. However, the so-called Parametric Architecture has revealed its existence even before the digital revolution. Parametric Architecture is a definition coined by Luigi Moretti in the '40s. Furthermore, several scholars have found examples of parametric thinking from the origin of the history of Western architecture. The idea of verifying the existence of a "parametric thinking" in the Cultural Built Heritage, recognizing the parameters that could have guided the architectural composition and re-creating their relationships using tools of parametric digital modelling is the focus of the present proposal. It follows, deepens and develops a research carried out on the atria's vaults of several Baroque palaces in Turin