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Carmine Gambardella (a cura di)
HERITAGE ARCHITECTURE LANDESIGN
focus on CONSERVATION REGENERATION INNOVATION
Le vie dei Mercanti
XI Forum Internazionale di Studi
editing:
Caterina Cristina Fiorentino
Manuela Piscitelli
Finito di stampare nel mese di maggio 2013
Le vie dei Mercanti _ XI Forum Internazionale di Studi
Aversa | Capri
June 13th- 15th, 2013
General Chair:
Carmine Gambardella
Professor and Director, Department of Architecture and Industrial Design “Luigi Vanvitelli”,
Second University of Naples – President of BENECON SCaRL
International Scientific Committee:
Ahmed Abu Al Haija
Professor and Head, Environmental Design, Urban and Architectural
Heritage, Faculty of Engineering, Philadelphia University, Jordan
Pilar Garcia Almirall
Professor, UPC Ecole Tecnica Superior d’Arquitectura, Barcelona, Spain
Harun Batirbaygil
Professor and Head, Department of Architectural, Okan University, Istanbul, Turkey
Federico Casalegno
Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, USA
Joaquín Díaz
Dean and Professor, Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen-University of
Applied Sciences, Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering
Carmine Gambardella
Professor and Director, Department of Architecture and Industrial Design “Luigi Vanvitelli”,
Second University of Naples - President of BENECON SCaRL
Massimo Giovannini
Professor, University “Mediterranea” of Reggio Calabria, Italy
Xavier Greffe
Professor and Director, Centre d’Economie de la Sorbonne Paris, France
Manuel Roberto Guido
Director Enhancement of Cultural Heritage,
Planning and Budget Department,
Italian Ministry of Heritage and Culture
Bernard Haumont
Professor, Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture,
Paris Val de Seine, France
Mathias Kondolf
Professor and Chair,
Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning,
University California Berkeley, USA
7
David Listokin
Professor, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy,
Rutgers University, USA
Maria Dolores Muñoz
Professor, UNECO Chair, EULA Environmental Centre,
University of Conception,Chile
Jorge Peña Díaz
Professor, Decano de la Facultad de Arquitectura,
Instituto Superior Politécnico José Antonio Echeverría, Cuba
Giovanni Puglisi
Professor, Rector IULM e
President Italian National Commission for UNESCO
Maria Grazia Quieti
Ph.D., Executive Director,
The U.S.- Italy Fulbright Commission
Michelangelo Russo
Professor, University Federico II di Napoli, Italy
Lucio Alberto Savoia
Ambassador and General Secretary,
Italian National Commission for UNESCO
Elena Shlienkova
Professor, Director of the Project Support Center of Regional and International Programs
of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration,
Russia
Eusebio Leal Spengler
Professor, honorary president of the Cuban ICOMOS Committee, Cuba.
Isabel Tort
Professor, Director of the Forum UNESCO
University and Heritage (FUUH) Programme,
Universitat Politècnica de València UPV, Spain.
Andrey V. Vasilyev
Professor and Director, Institute of Chemistry
and Environmental Engineering,Togliatti State University, Russia
8
Scholars has been invited to submit researches on
theoretical and methodological aspects related to
Heritage, Architecture and LanDesign, and show
real applications and experiences carried out on
this themes.
Based on blind peer review, abstracts has been
accepted, conditionally accepted, or rejected.
Authors of accepted and conditionally accepted
papers has been invited to submit full papers.
These has been again peer-reviewed and selected
for the oral session and publication, or only for the
publication in the conference proceedings.
200 abstracts received from:
Australia, Austria,
Brazil,
Canada, Chile, China, Cyprus,
Denmark,
France,
Germany, Greece,
India, Israel, Italy,
Jamaica, Jordan,
Kingdom of Bahrain, Kosovo,
Lebanon,
Malaysia, Malta, Morocco, Mexico,
New Zealand,
Poland, Portugal,
Russia,
Serbia, Slovak Republic, Spain,
Tunisia, Turkey,
Ukraine, United Kingdom, U.S.A.
About 300 authors involved.
15 papers published.
Peer review
Conference report
10
Pag. 24 ID 000
Architecture, heritage, landscape, in time of crisis
Carmine GAMBARDELLA
Table of contents _ HERITAGE
P. 35 ID 001
Noli Me Tangere – On Touch
Monika BOGDANOWSKA
P. 43 ID 002
A New Cultural Landscape: The Historic District of Zhong Shan
Livio SACCHI
P. 52 ID 004
Disclosure of Historic and Cultural Potential and Proposal for Restoration of the Castels of the
Western Ukraine
Jawdat GOUSSOUS, Galina TOTOVITSKAYA
P. 59 ID 005
Documenting the Architecture of Modernism in European Seaside Centers. Case Study in Italy
and Bulgaria
Manuela PISCITELLI, Milena KICHEKOVA
P. 69 ID 014
Brazilian Parties: The Transformation of Obligation into Fun
Maria Cristina CAPONERO
P. 77 ID 015
Pursuit of Style: the Importance of Historical, Archivistic and Treatise Heritage
Cristiana BEDONI, Daniele CALISI
P. 87 ID 016
Heritage Management in Sydney, Australia – a Case Study on The Replacement of Degraded
Sandstone on Heritage-Listed Buildings
Elanor PITT, Emma CULLEN, Gwénaëlle PROUST
P. 97 ID 023
The “Neustadt” of Strasbourg: Perception and reception of a late 19th century urban extension
project at the interface of France and Germany
Johannes DAHM, Sophie EBERHARDT
P. 107 ID 028
From the Concept to an Environmental Design of Gaudì: The Batllò House
Leonardo BOGANINI, Lidia PADRICELLI
P. 114 ID 030
The Reconversion of Italian Fortress Through the Use of Modern Tools
Alice PARRI, Laura BENASSI, Denise LA MONICA, Eliana SIOTTO, Marco CALLIERI
Paolo PINGI, Roberto SCOPIGNO
P. 123 ID 032
Investigation and Knowledge for promoting cultural heritage
Antonella DI LUGGO, Riccardo FLORIO, Massimiliano CAMPI
P. 132 ID 034
Beauty and Sustainability - Survey an Liberty Heritage an Varese and Ticino Area
Anna ANZANI, Angela BAILA, Claudia CARAMEL, Margherita GUARISCO
12
P. 758 ID 094
Air Movement: from Tradition Towards Innovative Experiences
Fosca TORTORELLI, Francesca MUZZILLO
P. 764 ID 096
The everyday and the monument, a case study of two UNESCO World Heritage sites:
the wooden churches of Vilupulli and Ichuac
Constantino MAWROMATIS
P. 774 ID 097
The quality of bridge design in the general design process
Michele CULATTI
P. 780 ID 098
Historical centers in seismic area: methodology for conservation, prevention and reconstruction.
The case study of Villa Sant’Angelo
Davide INDELICATO
P. 788 ID 100
The roman amphitheater of Syracuse: archaeological artifact forgotten
Giuseppe DI GREGORIO, Domenico GIACCONE, Angelo MONTELEONE
P. 796 ID 101
The Interlacing Arches System in Salerno and Amalfi Coast
Barbara MESSINA
P. 806 ID 105
Digital Reconstruction of the Maritime Theatre in Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli
Alberto SDEGNO
P. 815 ID 113
In Place
Maria Ines PASCARIELLO
P. 821 ID 114
Structural building information modeling of casale castello
Ingrid TITOMANLIO, Giuseppe FAELLA
P. 829 ID 120
Functional recovery and structural refurbishment of disused industrial buildings: an integrated
approch
Ingrid TITOMANLIO, Giulia MATERAZZI
P. 838 ID 121
Challenges in the field of heritage conservation in the developing world: a case study of Bihar,
India
Kamini SINHA, Shailendra Kumar MANDAL
P. 846 ID 122
Decoding a merchant town: photograpy, history and survey
Antonella SALUCCI
P. 855 ID 123
The historic fabric of Naples. Via Banchi Nuovi between regeneration and conservation
Daniela DE CRESCENZO, Carmela FRAJESE D’AMATO
P. 860 ID 124
Characterization of Uncertainty and Approximation in Digital Reconstruction of CH Artifacts
Fabrizio I. APOLLONIO, Marco GAIANI, Zheng SUN
18
Digital reconstruction of the Maritime Theatre
in Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli
Alberto SDEGNO
1
(1)Department of Engineering and Architecture, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy
sdegno@units.it
Abstract
The research we present in this paper is about the geometrical analysis and the digital reconstruction
of the Maritime Theatre in Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli, based on the comparative analysis of the
interpretations given by Francesco di Giorgio Martini, Andrea Palladio, Giovanni Battista Piranesi,
Pierre Jérôme Honoré Daumet, Luigi Canina, and some other important architects, but above all the
description of Mathias Ueblacker, that in 1985 published a very interesting survey and hypothesis on
the initial configuration of this architecture.
Inside the great place of the Hadrian’s Villa, the Maritime Theatre has a very unusual form, because of
the circle in which it is collocated, but also an unknown function, as we do not known what was the
finality of this space, and considering that the name was given by the people that discovered the ruins.
Realized probably between 120 and 125 a.C. it has a very rich geometrical configuration, with some
specific forms inside the round enclosure of columns that surrounds the water pool.
The aim of the research was to redraw either the actual configuration of it and the hypothesis of
reconstruction made by Ueblacker [1], in both cases with digital technology, in order to have a
comparison between the two levels of representation. A final video and an Augmented Reality
presentation was realized to show, in an explicit way, the results of the experimentation.
Keywords: architecture, representation, digital reconstruction, Hadrian’s Villa, Maritime Theatre
1. Introduction
The aim of this research was the analysis of the Maritime Theatre in Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli, near
Rome with digital instruments in order to have the virtual reconstruction of the building and to compare
the actual configuration with the one proposed by Mathias Ueblacker [1], who studied it, in the past, in
a very specific way. Only few parts are present now in the original state, and for the great part of it
there are only ruins (Fig. 1); despite this it was possible to investigate the architecture and propose a
virtual analysis of it with new technologies of representation. The first part of the research was done at
the IUAV University of Venice, as a graduation thesis by Elena Corzato [7]. The research was then
developed at the Department of Engineering and Architecture of the University of Trieste.
At the same time it was necessary to analyze also some of the studies made by relevant architects on
this site, who tried to give a solution to the unbuilt aspect of the Villa itself, based mainly to the
geometrical design of the plan. In fact we have a lot of drawings and surveys of it, starting from XV
Century. Some of the illustrations of the Maritime Theatre were made by Francesco di Giorgio Martini,
Andrea Palladio, J. Laurus, Francesco Contini, Pier Leone Ghezzi, J.R. Vulpi, Giovanni Ristori
Gabbrielli, Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Luigi Rossini, Agostino Penna, Honoré Daumet, Luigi Canina,
H. Kahler, H. Stierlin, ending with the one already cited by Ueblacker. Among them, we have to
considered in a particular way the sketches by Palladio – for the idea of invention he represented in
his works – the drawings by Piranesi – for the perspective representation of the ruins – the colored
watercolors by Daumet – who offered the first hypothesis of detailed reconstruction in plan, elevation
and sections – and of course the ones by Ueblacker, who gave the last and more defined solution of
the first configuration of the building.
During the phase of analyzing it was necessary to visit the area and also to take a photographic
survey, for having a visual catalogue of every single elements of the building. As it was impossible to
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have a technical and instrumental survey, we decided to verify some measures of the building with a
direct survey.
At the end, this architecture was selected also for some experiments in the field of new technology of
communication applied to cultural monuments, trying to verify the best way to communicate the main
themes of the present investigation. So we decided to construct the digital 3D model of this building, to
render with the simulation of natural illumination, to prepare a video with the walking-through
technology in order to visit virtually the building, and to analyze it in a virtual way using the electronic
system of Augmented Reality (AR) for the presentation in real-time and for the dissemination of
information during some public events, such as conferences and exhibitions.
Fig. 1: The Maritime Theatre from above.
2. The representation of the Maritime Theatre inside the Hadrian’s Villa
The construction of the complex of Hadrian’s Villa started in 177 a.C. in Tivoli, on an area where a
preceding villa was built in the republican period. There are a lot of interpretations on the motivations
for the decision to realize this great monument, in some ways, it could be considered as the
foundation of a town, in which every construction is a single solution with a strict relation with some
Greek buildings. It is known that Hadrian himself decided some architectural solutions, that some
architects – such as probably Apollodoro – designed and constructed. Marguerite Yourcenar wrote in
1951 the novel Mémoires d'Hadrien, in which she makes the emperor remembering his past,
sometimes referring to the places inside his Villa in Tivoli [6].
We do not describe all the buildings of the Villa, but we will analyze only the Maritime Theatre,
remembering that either the name and the function are a truly enigma for the critics and historians who
studied this architecture. In fact, the name was given in 1600 and it doesn’t reflect the probable
function of the space. Ueblacker told that it could be considered as an “emperor’s studio”, a place
where the emperor stayed to rest and to satisfy his spiritual needs. The circle water pool was used,
probably, not only to satisfy the view of the visitors, but also for swimming, protected by the wall that is
placed all around it.
A relevant part of the analysis was dedicated to the collection of the drawings that architects did for
studying this architecture. Some of them allows us to understand better the initial geometrical form
and its three-dimensional development.
The first one was a plan of the Maritime Theatre drawn by an anonymous draughtsman of the XV
Century, and conserved at the Albertina Library in Vienna. In this case the water canal was not
807
represented probably because it was hidden by earth. The columns were traced as small points on the
paper, in the exact location where there are the columns.
In 1465 the architect Francesco di Giorgio Martini visited Hadrian’s Villa and realized some scale
plans, archived now in the Uffizi Library in Florence and redrawn for his treatise now at the Royal
Library in Turin. One of them is to be considered as the first survey drawing of the Theatre, realized
probably on site. Also in this case the water canal is not presented for the same reason we told before.
In 1547 Andrea Palladio visited the Villa and drew two drawings now collected at the Royal Institute of
British Architects in London (Fig. 2). One was drawn as a sketch, not well defined graphically, and the
other one was drawn in a geometric form. Both of them are quoted, and, although they did not
represent a real configuration – because of the symmetry of the elements, that is not present in the
actual state – it is derived by a survey created on site. In this case either the circular pool and the
bridges to reach the internal island are represented. The number of columns designed by Palladio all
around the pool are 81, otherwise the exact number of them is 40.
Pirro Ligorio treated this architecture in a manuscript he wrote in the half of XVI Century, but without
any drawing inside, and we do not know if it was really done, or it was lost.
The first pseudo-perspective representation of the Maritime Theatre is the one realized by J. Laurus in
1612, but in reality it was an interpretation of it, because of the presence of some elements that are
not present in the site. For example, there is a double porch all around the circular pool, a circular
columned temple inside the central island, and some other buildings in the front.
In 1668 Francesco Contini published the first plan of Hadrian’s Villa, realized thanks to a detailed
survey made in 1634 by him, so we can see the development of the Theatre in XVII Century.
Another plan of the Theatre was realized probably in 1724 by the painter Pier Leone Ghezzi, and
archived at the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana in Rome, but the drawing is not so detailed as the
preceding ones. Then there was neither the water pool nor the circular colonnade, but only a simplified
representation of it.
In 1745 J.R. Vulpi drew an imaginary section of the Theatre, to represent at the same time the internal
and external view of it. But as the figuration is schematic, some elements are not signed, such as the
pool, the bridges and the roof. All the Theatre is presented in the form of ruins, with a degradation of
the walls, covered by vegetation.
In 1770 Giovanni Ristori Gabbrielli represented the complex of the Villa subdivided in single parts, as
there was a subdivision of the property. The planimetric drawing was sided by plans and elevations of
agricultural houses, realized to use economically the area.
Giovanni Battista Piranesi was very interested in the Hadrian’s Villa, and he prepared a great plan in
scale 1:1000, printed in six paper with a total dimension of three meters. It was published in 1781, by
his son Francesco, after his father’s death. The plan of the Theatre shows a configuration very similar
to the present one (Fig. 2), with few differences (for example the number of columns all around the
pool is 52, instead of 40). At the end of his life Piranesi realized some preparatory perspective
drawings of the Villa, and we have some of them that showed the Maritime Theatre in the form of ruin,
without the pool and wrapped by vegetation.
Some other representation of the Theatre were those by Luigi Rossini in 1826 and Agostino Penna
who in his book Viaggio Pittorico, published in 1831-36, drew a lot of perspective views in which the
building was showed in a situation of great deterioration.
In 1859 Honoré Daumet produced a detailed survey of the Hadrian’s Villa and proposed a
reconstruction of it, well drawn in some colored watercolors showing plans, sections and elevations of
the architecture inserted in the natural context (Fig. 2).
Fig. 2: Drawings of the Maritime Theatre by A. Palladio, G.B. Piranesi, H. Daumet (from left to right).
The representation realized by Daumet were perhaps the most interesting and exhaustive about the
Villa. In these documents the Maritime Theatre is shown in a comparative figuration, that presented a
section of the ruins of the Theatre and, in the same paper, the probable configuration, with a high level
of interpretation, so that it is difficult to identify the single elements that are present in both drawings.
The drawings realized by Luigi Canina in 1872 reflected the representation by Piranesi, but he gave a
personal interpretation of the Theatre, with some details regarding also the architectural order and the
808
capitals; a rounded monumental temple is in the center of the island with four symmetrical bridges
organized along a cross.
At the beginning of the XX Century there was a scientific survey, organized by the research unit of the
School of Engineering in Rome, coordinated by prof. Vincenzo Reina. The survey was executed with
topographic systems and shows the actual state of the Maritime Theatre, the same that will be
illustrated by Ueblacker in his drawings.
Some other representation of the Theatre were done by H. Kahler in 1950 [5] and by H. Stierling in
1984 [6]. They are basic and significant studies from which Ueblacker started for his 1985 proposal.
The survey and reconstruction by Mathias Ueblacker is, without any doubt, the most precise and
interesting one, because he collected all the graphical information about this architecture, did some
new surveys and proposed a version of the original one that is considered the more reliable of all
studies. The reconstruction was documented also with a scale physical maquette, to offer a three-
dimensional visualization of the hypothesis.
3. The Geometry of the Maritime Theatre
As we told before there isn’t any information about the function and the original name of this space.
Probably it was a sort of shelter of the emperor where he could usually rest after his voyages, as the
ritus laconicus required. For what concerns the proportion of this architecture, we can report the study
of the module that Ueblacker identified during his research. The researcher found a module of 5 feet,
that he found into the dimension of every relevant geometry of the Theatre. For example, the
circumference of the exterior walls is 30x5 modules, that is 150 feet long; the circle that passes for the
center of the columns is 24x5 modules, that is 120 feet; the circle of the stylobate of the peristyle is
10x5 modules, that is 50 feet (Fig. 3).
Fig. 3: Geometrical scheme traced on the plan drawn by Ueblacker (elab. E. Corzato).
So its complex geometry is based on the regular form of the circle, subdivided into a series of squares
and other circles. Ueblacker described with great precision the way in which it is possible to draw the
final configuration of this architecture. The first circle is the perimeter of the external wall, the second
one is the circle of the axis of the columns; then you need to draw the square inscribed to the last
circle, and then the circle inscribed in this square. This one is the limit of the interior island. Then the
809
procedure required the redesign of two circles and a squared in the middle. So it is possible to obtain
the general configuration of the plan, from which we can start to draw all the other parts (Fig. 4).
Fig. 4: Geometrical genesis of the form (elab. E. Corzato).
Then it is also very important to identify the spaces that are all around the Maritime Theatre, for
analyzing the connections among this one and the others (Fig. 5). In detail they are: the Philosophers
Room, the Criptoporticus towards the Stadium Garden, the Libraries’ Garden, the Greek Garden, the
external Exedra. This spaces are very useful to understand better the organization of the Theatre
itself, although some of them are presented in the form of ruins.
Fig. 5: Digital restitution of the survey plan by Ueblacker (elab. E. Corzato).
But the principal attention was dedicated to the comprehension of the single spaces of the Maritime
Theatre. A large atrium is located at north, at the entrance of the building. Near the circular porch it
enlarges into two rectangular niches covered with barrel vaults. The roof of the atrium was destroyed,
but it was probably a pitched one. In front of the atrium and at west side there was an asymmetrical
loggia, which is 12 feet large.
810
After having passed through the loggia and the atrium we arrive to the round porch, that is 12 feet
large too, between the surrounding wall, which is 2.5 feet large and 17.5 high, and the limit of the
internal plinths of the columns. This porch is covered with a barrel vault, which is supported by the wall
and by the columns. All the columns of the porch are ionic ones. Then there is a round canal of water,
which is 4.90 m large and about 1.50 m deep, probably decorated with a coloured mosaic. To cross
the canal there were some swing bridges, probably 4, and it is possible that the wall bridge at west
side was realized upon suggestion of Hadrian himself, for the difficulties to use the swing one.
The wall inside the island were realized in opus testaceum (made by triangular bricks with one point
inside the concrete) because it gave to the structure more solidity in an high humidity context, such as
the one of the Theatre. One of the main part of the island is the exedra, limited at south with a circular
row of columns, following an arc of circumference with a ray of 4.82 m., and at north with another row
of them following the circle of the canal. After the exedra there is a peristyle with a mixtilinear form, a
rectangle with four concave arches in the axis, doubled internally to generate a court having convex
arches as sides. In the middle of the court there was a fountain. All around the peristyle there are
small baths complex, with latrine, apoditerium (dressing room), frigidarium, calidarium and the heating
room, where the stoker fed the fire. At the east side of the island there is the library, with some small
rooms, while at the south side there is the tablinum, with two triclinia at left and right.
4. The digital reconstruction of the Maritime Theatre
After having studied the whole architecture we started the digital reconstruction of the Maritime
Theatre, following the information on the book Das Teatro Marittimo in der Villa Hadriana by Mathias
Ueblacker [1].
Fig. 6: Digital representation of the plan and section of the actual state (elab. E. Corzato).
In detail the geometrical procedure described above was at the origin of the generation of the form. In
particular the aim of this research was to compare two models, the one which describes the actual
811
state and the other about the hypothesis proposed by the researcher; the digital models are used, in
fact, as a sophisticated way to identify the relations between every single parts.
To realize the models we used a CAD software with Boolean primitives and advanced algorithms for
extrude sections along a path modifying the perimeter of the section itself. These two procedures
allowed us to construct every elements of the models. The first step was the digitalization of the plans,
elevations and sections from the book by Ueblacker, and then we have to adjust this information with
the numerical quotes in roman foot, traced by him. We have to notice that, as his drawings were done
using traditional techniques, there are some simplified descriptions during the representation of
sections and elevations. Due to the complexity of the building, in fact, the author decided to omit the
elements in background, tracing only the parts in foreground. As in some points the sections by
Ueblacker were not sufficient to understand the volume, it was necessary to use the basis of a direct
and photographic survey we did to integrate the information from the book. Seeing the digital model it
is possible to verify a correspondence between it and the real configuration, although it was necessary
to simplify the model to represent the ruins and the state of degradation of the walls and of the
columns (Fig. 6).
The second step was the digital reconstruction of the hypothesis made by Ueblacker on the original
configuration of the Maritime Theatre (Fig. 7).
Fig. 7: Digital representation of the plan and the section of the hypothesis by Ueblacker (elab. E. Corzato).
In this case the main differences were based on the determination of the elevations, because in some
cases there is only some information about them. Thanks to the presence of the barrel vault of the
columned porch it is possible to conjecture the highness of the elements inside the island, covered
with different typologies of roofs. The final three-dimensional representation gives us a volumetric
visualization that allows to consider it in its real complexity.
The third step of the phase of reconstruction was the comparison of the two digital models in order to
identify better the analogies and the differences between them. So we decided to use a similar
812
description of them - plan and longitudinal section - and a superposition of Ueblacker hypothesis on
the survey of the actual state. The hypothesis of reconstruction was represented in wire-frame, while
the ruins are shown with a rendering image, without materials and textures, but having only one colour
(yellow) for the volume of all parts, a colour for the section (dark yellow), and a material for water
(based on semi-transparent light blue), with shadows. We thought that the best visualization of this
comparison was a cross-section isometric description. To complete the scheme we decided to add the
drawing of the survey of the other part of the plan (Fig. 8).
Fig. 8: Isometric representation of the Ueblacker’s hypothesis (wire-frame) upon the actual state (rendering)
(elab. E. Corzato).
5. Advanced technology for the communication of the Maritime Theatre
The final part of the research was dedicated to the communication of the results using new technology
of visualization. In particular we decided to realize a video animation and an experimental application
using Augmented Reality (AR).
In the first case the video was produced with the intent to make evident the two levels of comparison,
which we said before. The virtual visit of the Maritime Theatre starts from the atrium and goes forward
following a possible path of the emperor who wants to show us the building. The visit was conducted
into the second model, reconstructed on the thesis proposed by Ueblacker. But somewhere a double
representation shows, with a progressive fade, also the actual state of the ruins. So it was possible to
understand the correspondence between the actual configuration of space, and the original idea of the
project. The visit continues along the circular canal, stopping in some relevant points of the path, for
example near the columns, across the bridge for entering the island, and inside the internal space,
and showing, at the end, the volume from the top. We decided to use models without colors and
materials – only a light yellow for all the surfaces, and the simulation of the water inside – to allow the
visitors to understand the volumes and spaces, simulated with shadows. The number of frames of the
video is about 2000 for a duration of 80 seconds, with a frame rate of 25 fps (Fig. 9).
The second communication experiment was dedicated to Augmented Reality, that is – as we know – a
sort of inverse application of Virtual Reality (VR). As VR puts man in a virtual space, making the
sensation to be in another context, different from the one in which he is, the AR inverts the impression,
and gives the possibility to explore a model, rotating and slicing it in real-time, as if it were in our
hands. In this case the digital model of the Theatre was converted in an AR ambient, associated with a
target and analyzed and explored. The use of a small camera allowed us to simulate the behavior of a
813
visitor inside an exhibition, that virtually has in his hands a model of the Maritime Theatre, with a lot of
details and information. This opportunity could be an interesting way to distribute virtual architectural
models, with the intent to create a imaginary catalogue of maquettes. We have to consider also that
the peculiarity of a digital model is also in the possibility to query it, for example asking to slice the
volume to analyze the internal configuration, as a traditional model doesn’t have this capability and it is
impossible to investigate it, but only to see walking around it.
Fig. 9: Single frames of the video animation for the comparison of the models (elab. E. Corzato).
Bibliographical References
[1] UEBLACKER, Mathias. Das Teatro Marittimo in der Villa Hadriana. 1ª ed. Mainz am Rhein: von
Zabern, 1985.
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