The virtual concreteness of the architectural project: Ideas and experimentations for a digital archive of the Italian Masters work in the 20th century

Abstract

We propose to illustrate a methodological approach aimed to establish a "Digital archive of the Italian Masters work in the second half of the 20th century”. To this end, we consider the architectural project -from its graphic layout as a cultural heritage. Being as part of the field of new representational forms investigation, this work aims at designing, analyzing and communicating architecture. Thanks to its wide professional relapses, its prefiguration of architectural projects and its diffusion through different media, this is a highly developed research area (also at an international level). This is due to continuous development and usage of informatics technologies also in the architectural representation field. New forms of multimedia communication allow using image in all of its forms, from movement to "real-time" visualization, to the so-called "augmented reality"; so we overcome the text and image dichotomy using the iconic processing as a critical-interpretative instrument. Computer modeling techniques, used for the project communication at different scales, are particularly suited for the analysis of architecture - especially the not-built-ones. They allow the reconstruction of the design process which lead to the spatial, morphological, functional configuration. Italian architects of the second half of last century, represented the national vanguard of contemporary architectural culture through their works. Going over the evolution of their design experimentations we need to involve both the institutional structures delegated to project materials storage, and those responsible for the valorization and dissemination of the architectural culture in Italy.