RICERCA ITALIANA     

Research program

Integrated Methodologies for the Survey, Drawing, Modelling of Urban and Architectural Environment.

University Co-ordinator

Università Politecnica delle MARCHE - ARCHITETTURA, RILIEVO, DISEGNO, URBANISTICA, STORIA - ()

Research Unit Leader

Marcello Agostinelli

Description

This research unit has long been interested in the communication and diffusion of architecture and the architectural object, and in creating a product not exclusively aimed at professional operators or expert users, but rather one that can transmit its essence and beauty also to untrained viewers.
The advent of digital technology has added considerably to the world of communication of architecture. Graphics and plastic tools used to be the sole techniques enabling 3D “transportation” and exhibition of architectural models and cities. The new digital technologies are better suited to applications that have changed the way of conceiving the relationship of the architectural heritage with the user and the methods for its communication. It is increasingly evident that the digital and multimedia technologies are attracting a broader, less expert and less specialized public, and that they are capable of communicating the beauty of architecture to all.
Over the last few years our group has worked on various experimental projects, interacting both with academia and the most successful private professionals on the state of the art of graphics IT for applications that involve the expression and communication of themes and contents of strong cultural significance. This work has led to the organization by our group of the first two international meetings of e-Arcom – Tecnologie per comunicare l’architettura, in 2004 and 2007. The first meeting focused on the study of the technologies that allow to harness easy and intuitive digital technologies to the communication of the architectural heritage, a product with a strong emotional impact that is particularly difficult to communicate.
The 2007 meeting was entitled “SISTEMI INFORMATIVI PER L’ARCHITETTURA” and followed up on the debate opened by the first meeting. It focused on data management systems and their communication for the protection, valorization and promotion of the architectural, cultural and natural heritage. The new digital technologies were applied to reach out to the many Web users, to examine the questions related to IT technologies and the risk of their rapid obsolescence, and also to select the more advanced experiences in communication and in the education in a discipline–architecture–that is still little known to the general public.
The meeting envisaged three topics that were developed in oral and digital sessions:
• Architectural archives and museums
• Heritage protection, valorization and promotion
• Architectural design and projects
Some of the reported experiences document activities which, starting from exploratory work, aim at communication for the preservation of memory, using highly evocative and effective products. At the meeting, the strong development of the Information System sensitivity and culture applied to the cultural heritage has been found to require restriction of the area of interest to the so-called Architectural Information Systems (AIS) for the design, representation, communication and promotion of the architectural heritage.
e-Arcom is now the acknowledged venue for meeting and debate on established developments and technological prospects in the sector of information systems for architecture and for discussing the new requirements of a market that from research draws means and tools for consolidation and growth.
The know-how provided by the contributors to e-Arcom and the broad range of possibilities offered by digital technologies have prompted us to explore and develop new ways to attract and involve the public, going beyond the traditional computer screen and invading the 3D space with projected images with a high degree of multisensory immersivity.
This requires to reinterpret the traditional relationship between architectural object and user, where the latter ceases to be a traditional spectator and is empowered to interact with the object’s representation, find himself immersed in it, or be the author of his own perception.
Static or moving scenes are already being widely used in shows. They are based on large-scale projections offering such a degree of immersivity as to make viewers parts of the representation itself. We intend to take this experience into the world of architectural expression, where this type of communication can constitute a highly effective tool and at the same time an application challenge.
Communication of architecture in real scale requires the multiple, integrated architectural projections that can be beamed as high-luminosity giant projections directly onto architectural surfaces, without using screens. The technique is visually and emotionally effective, as it involves the three spatial dimensions and an interaction between projected images and architectural structures, which become part of the event. The method’s potential rests on the scope for spectacularizing architecture, communicating it widely in the urban-planning context and transporting viewers into a reality of virtual images and spaces, whether indoors or outdoors. Here the long-standing collaboration of our group with Stark s.r.l. (Cagli, Italy) is of crucial importance. Stark and its Multivision image designer, Paolo Buroni, are on the forefront in the realization of large-scale multimedia installations.
Models can also be projected onto non-flat surfaces, such as water, vapour and large open-air surfaces, and even afford 3D representation of objects close to their real scale.
Implementation of the system in 3D projection mode will allow the user to manipulate the image projected in empty space in the same way as he would a classic plastic representation, selecting autonomously and subjectively the desired visual perspectives. The images thus recreated, similar to holograms but obtained with Multivision projections, can be beamed both indoors and outdoors without losing the scale of the projected object to its surroundings.
Another application, the immersive box, recreates a closed space by reproducing its visual detail almost as an architectural scenery. Interaction with the user is by a tracking and a multichannel audio system designed to create a high emotional-impact multisensory involvement.
The applications of this technique are varied: from the cultural and general, as in the protection and promotion of the architectural, archaeological and natural heritage, to the professional, as in the assessment of the environmental impact of proposed constructions by simulating their presence in their prospective context.
The research will be articulated into two main parts:
A) DESIGN AND HONING OF THE MULTIVISION METHOD OF REPRESENTATION AND PROJECTION
B) ACQUISITION AND PROCESSING OF THE MODELS SELECTED FOR REPRESENTATION ON THE ARCHITECTURAL AND URBAN SCALES

A)

1) The first phase will address the study and preparation of the instruments required for projecting images on non-traditional surfaces while maintaining a high degree of image contrast and resolution for maximum realism of the architectural object; here the collaboration with Stark s.r.l., a manufacturer of architectural projectors holding the international standard for brightness and compactness of the image produced, will be essential. The company will provide all the equipment required for the realization of real-scale Multivision projections and the holographic screens required for projections within the structure. Architectural projections are currently obtained with analogical projectors, which allow representation of high-definition static images that can be beamed onto outdoor surfaces in the order of thousands of square metres, outdoor locations, or in real architectural scale. The goal of this project is to develop a tool with characteristics that are suitable for the type of representation described above, but one that will not produce only static images. Using digital technologies, it must enable projection of moving images on a scale consistent with the selected location, be it an outdoor space or a closed area such as a museum room. We will strive for the best compromise between quality of the final product and cost of the equipment.
2) Honing of a system ensuring interactivity of the projection with the user via multimedia controls such as joysticks, data gloves or, a further development, integration of object-tracking systems endowed with sensors to enhance interaction autonomy. The user’s movement, detected in real time, becomes the origin of the action seen on the projection. Systems that allow to detect device orientation and position as well as the velocity and acceleration of each displacement are already on the market, e.g. Nintendo’s WII.
3) The third phase will address digital simulation of the methods. This is essential for the assessment of the experimentation, and will help optimize results by focusing on the relationship that can obtain between object projection and the structure that will be used for its representation.
4) At the same time the fourth and final phase will address the design and realization of the structures required for projection of coherent perspective visions. The structures will need to allow projection of 3D images outdoors as well as indoors (e.g. museum rooms or exhibition spaces) and to afford a 360° view of the object, allowing the user to manage object perception autonomously. The structure needs to be flexible and capable of being converted to a box for the realization of an immersive multisensory projection, or to a pyramid (consistent with projection aims), in which the user can move freely and freely change perspective. It will also need to be transportable and easy to assemble, non-invasive from the standpoint of perception of the representation, and economic to make. The design of the support structure for the projection panels will have a critical role, as it must ensure a pleasant and sophisticated visual impact. Previous experience at our laboratory has given satisfactory results in terms of model accuracy and quality of the projected image, despite its small size and the basic materials used.
The goal of this phase will be to achieve a correct relation to the dimension of plastic representations of architecture, to enable use of the structure in museums.

B)

The second fundamental articulation of the research includes digital model acquisition, processing and optimization as a function of the representation technique selected. Model processing will be in relation to the type of projection chosen, be it a real-scale Multivision architectural projection, a coherent perspective vision like a holographic vision, or a multisensory projection in an immersive box. Attention to detail in relation to projection scale and correct dimensioning of the model will ensure a scientific, as opposed to a merely artistic, representation. The evolution of digital techniques has made it possible to reproduce in a virtual environment also the fourth, time, which makes the immaterial 3D model a powerful instrument for the comprehension of the spaces generating actual architectures. Consistent with the project’s aims, the architectures selected for representation will include both proposed projects and existing objects of the cultural heritage that need protection and valorization. The architectural model has an important role as an analytical and evaluation tool both in the representation of existing architectures and increasingly also for diffusion and communication purposes.
1) Acquisition of geometrical, physical and materials-related data required for processing and generation of the immaterial architectural model.
Our unit has long experience in the survey of the cultural heritage and in new methods and 2D and 3D acquisition techniques. Use of the latest architectural survey techniques based on 3D laser scanning has highlighted their outstanding features: speed and ease of use, large amount and variety of data acquired, accuracy also in large-scale measurements, immediate generation of metric data and high-quality display of the virtual model of the object, accuracy in acquisition, i.e. perfect reproducibility of all measurements. The characteristics of these instruments optimally meet the current needs of representation and communication professional, but the salient and most interesting aspect of the technology is its ability to survey, process and generate data automatically from one 3D reality to another, the virtual, dynamic reality of digital models, without passing through traditional, static 2D representations. The discrete point cloud model is already highly representative of the architectural object and is ready for reproduction as a projection.
2) The second phase will address optimum photorealistic rendering of the model, in terms of materials and lighting, using technologies dedicated to the study of scene-object interaction (HDRI and Image Based Lighting).
3) In the third and final phase the representations of the object will be made compatible with the chosen projection system, be it giant projection, hologram or projection in an immersive box.
Possible fields of applications are:
• In museums: fixed museum installations and intangibile museums. A single, fixed projection structure set up in exhibition spaces, where the same space is devoted to representation of different objects;
• Communication of the architectural heritage to the wider public by means of virtual reconstructions at high emotional-impact sites (e. g. archaeological sites);
• Virtual anastylosis projections onto extant or no longer extant architectures (e.g. archaeological sites);
• Spectacularization of architectural representations with architectural projections: projection of static or moving images on buildings’ facades, interacting with their architecture;
• Diffusion of art in urban city circuits (public art);
• Assessment of the environmental impact of the architectural object by projections that simulate its presence.
The outputs of the research will be collected in traditional and digital publications and will be uploaded to a dedicated session of the official E-ARCOM portal managed by our group. They will also be presented at seminars and thematic meetings until the complete structure is set up on the occasion of the third international E-ARCOM meeting in 2010.