From Passion to Method. Experiences of 3D modelingapplied to unrealized architectures

Abstract

In the academic context, the application of three-dimensional modelling is now widespread; however, it is still used mainly as a tool for visualization of the results and only partially recognized as a critical device and analytical instrument. Starting from an experience that originates outside the academic sphere, this paper examines the evolution of a practice initially guided by personal passions (in particular the visual reconstruction of unbuilt architecture and painted architecture from the Renaissance and Baroque periods) toward the definition of a structured methodology capable of integrating past and future research coherently, to be developed within a PhD program. This dissertation proposes a formalization of the process leading to the construction of a 3D digital model conceived as a critical tool, that makes communicable the interpretative steps underlying its progression. From this perspective, three-dimensional modelling is conceived not merely as representation, but as a cognitive device for historiographical research, capable of bringing different sources into relation, testing and comparing hypotheses, thereby contributing in an original and active way to the field of history of architecture.