Historical Architecture And Computer: AssessmentOf State Of Preservation

Abstract

In the case of historical and monumental architecture, the analysis and understanding of processes of decay call for an interpretative overview encompassing data which stem from different areas of study but are globally interrelated and constitute essential elements for the purpose of assessing the state of preservation. The study outlined here seeks to create an information system capable of furnishing a synthesis of data regarding the architectonic item in question, its immediate context and its territorial location. The cognitive and information scientific process In order to obtain an objective definition of the state of conservation of an historic artifact it is necessary to devise an overall interpretative framework. By integrating the analytical procedures drawn from different fields of specialization, this framework allows the various decay pathologies to be analysed, their underlying causes to be understood and the relevant interactions to be inferred. The fundamental steps in this cognitive process can be summed up as follows: geometric survey; study and recording of historical architectural characters; analysis of the decay and its thematic representation. The survey consists of the identification of the artifact's geometric configuration. As it is often the result of second thoughts during the artifact'sconstruction, previous restoration work and changes in the original building itself, this is often characterized by complex irregular forms. The reconstruction of these forms by means of computer aided design remained a difficult problem for a considerable time. Only with the recent rapid progress Transactions on the Built Environment vol 15, © 1995 WIT Press, www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3509