On the occasion of the recent restoration of the sixteenth century Neptune's Fountain in Bologna, promoted by the municipality in 2015 to preserve one of the major town's landmark, high-quality imagery has been acquired for documenting the current state of preservation of the marble and bronze surfaces before and during the restoration phases. Starting from this available detailed photographic campaign and using new tools developed to solve problems linked with some limitations of the captured imagery, authors produced a photogrammetry-based 3D model of the monumental sculpture group, reliable for both geometric features and colour reproduction consistency, in order to be used to support the supplementary activities not foreseen in the original project. The paper presents methods and techniques implemented to produce the 3D model of the fountain, besides its main actual applications as a basic tool to support different restoration activities: (i) reliable documentation of the actual state; (ii) high-quality visualization and rendering; (iii) technical outcomes and graphical representation extraction; (iv) study of original and current water supply system and simulation of the new project for the jets system and watergames; (v) new lighting design simulation; (vi) structural analysis; (vii) support to preliminary analysis and design studies related to hardly accessible areas; (viii) surface cleaning analysis; (ix) base for filling gaps or missing elements through 3D printing; (x) support for data modelling and semantic-based diagrams.

Il "disegno" di Sabbioneta rappresenta un'esperienza didattica laboratoriale che avvia una ricerca/indagine di un metodo per la conoscenza e la restituzione dell'identità urbana. Le immagini raccontano i problemi e le soluzioni legate al conseguimento di un duplice obiettivo: da un lato la ricerca di nuovi modi per rappresentare e comprendere la città, dall'altro l'insegnamento del disegno dell'architettura con l'applicazione operativa delle teorie della rappresentazione. Un lavoro che ha permesso di acquisire nuove competenze nella gestione di grandi gruppi di lavoro.

The sixteenth-century Fountain of Neptune is one of Bologna's most renowned landmarks. During the recent restoration activities of the monumental sculpture group, consisting in precious marbles and highly refined bronzes with water jets, a photographic campaign has been carried out exclusively for documentation purposes of the current state of preservation of the complex. Nevertheless, the high-quality imagery was used for a different use, namely to create a 3D digital model accurate in shape and color by means of automated photogrammetric techniques and a robust customized pipeline. This 3D model was used as basic tool to support many and different activities of the restoration site. The paper describes the 3D model construction technique used and the most important applications in which it was used as support tool for restoration: (i) reliable documentation of the actual state; (ii) surface cleaning analysis; (iii) new water system and jets; (iv) new lighting design simulation; (v) support for preliminary analysis and projectual studies related to hardly accessible areas; (vi) structural analysis; (vii) base for filling gaps or missing elements through 3D printing; (viii) high-quality visualization and rendering and (ix) support for data modelling and semantic-based diagrams.

Il di Sabbioneta rappresenta un'esperienza didattica laboratoriale che avvia una ricerca/indagine di un metodo per la conoscenza e la restituzione dell'identita urbana. Le immagini raccontano i problemi e le soluzioni legate al conseguimento di un duplice obiettivo: da un lato la ricerca di nuovi modi per rappresentare e comprendere la citta, dall'altro l'insegnamento del disegno dell'architettura con l'applicazione operativa delle teorie della rappresentazione. Un lavoro che ha permesso di acquisire nuove competenze nella gestione di grandi gruppi di lavoro.

In the last years the image-based pipeline for 3D reconstruction purposes has received large interest leading to fully automated methodologies able to process large image datasets and deliver 3D products with a level of detail and precision variable according to the applications. Different open issues still exist, in particular when dealing with the 3D surveying and modeling of large and complex scenarios, like historical porticoes. The paper presents an evaluation of various surveying methods for the geometric documentation of ca 40km of historical porticoes in Bologna (Italy). Finally, terrestrial photogrammetry was chosen as the most flexible and productive technique in order to deliver 3D results in form of colored point clouds or textured 3D meshes accessible on the web. The presented digital products are a complementary material for the final candidature of the porticoes as UNESCO WHS.

The study is part of a broader search coordinated by the Department of Architecture of the University of Bologna, the Cineca and the city of Bologna for the nomination of the city porticoes in the UNESCO World Heritage Site. The study describes, first, the problems and the methods adopted for the survey, the numerical modeling and visualization of the arcades models. In addition, the paper aims to describe a method for the semantic studying of the porticoes architecture and the segmentation of the models. The goal is also to establish an integrated approach to the semantic cataloguing of the Bologna arcades based on historical, material, formal, dimensional and theoretical data, and to make this information easily readable and communicable.

The paper describes a color enhanced processing system - applied as case study on an artifact of the Pompeii archaeological area - developed in order to enhance different techniques for reality-based 3D models construction and visualization of archaeological artifacts. This processing allows rendering reflectance properties with perceptual fidelity on a consumer display and presents two main improvements over existing techniques: a. the color definition of the archaeological artifacts; b. the comparison between the range-based and photogrammetry-based pipelines to understand the limits of use and suitability to specific objects.

Among the actions developed in order to submit the Bologna porticoes ensemble to World heritage sites of UNESCO, there is a platform conceived for on-line accessing the huge amount of data and resources related to the porticoes. The core of platform will consist of reality-based high quality 3D models usable and navigable within the system as main user interface. The paper describes methods, procedures and best practices developed to implement the digital archive with checked uniform quality and consistency reality-based 3D digital models.

The paper describes a color enhanced processing system - applied as case study on an artifact of the Pompeii archaeological area - developed in order to enhance different techniques for reality-based 3D models construction and visualization of archaeological artifacts. This processing allows rendering reflectance properties with perceptual fidelity on a consumer display and presents two main improvements over existing techniques: a. the color definition of the archaeological artifacts; b. the comparison between the range-based and photogrammetry-based pipelines to understand the limits of use and suitability to specific objects.

The system of Bologna porticoes, included in 2006 in the Italian tentative list of World heritage sites of UNESCO, will undergo a definitive recognition of the nomination as part of the program of the current municipal council. The nomination is aimed at highlighting the portico, not only as a high-quality architectural work, which in the past centuries has become a distinctive feature of the town, but also in its social, community and anthropological meanings, as a meeting place, a protected space. The nomination project refers to different subjects and is divided into many levels of action. Among them we are going to develop a platform conceived for on-line accessing the wealth of data and resources related to the Bolognese porticoes system, such as historical, artistic, architectural resources, besides all those data regarding its actual management. The platform will perform the harvesting of several already existing databases, making the data available to citizens, tourists and scholars thanks to a graphic interface allowing a navigation in space and time. Therefore our system will facilitate the development of further cultural and promotional cross-medial applications, such as apps for mobile devices, augmented graphics and 3D architectural mapping events. Through social media tools, citizens will be invited not only to enjoy and share the proposed contents, but also to take an active stance in the project by uploading contents and comments. The core of our platform will consist of reality-based high quality 3D models usable and navigable within the system as main user interface. Uniform quality and consistency of our reality-based 3D digital models along the more than 40 km of porticoes was ensured by a controlled, low-cost process starting from photo-modeling techniques.

The aim of the study is to re-discover the suburban arcades of the XVII and XVIII century in Bologna, as they were always considered independent elements rather than elements guiding the development of the city. Their evolution model returns an interpretative key for today’s urban development design. These urban structures formed outside the city walls during the eighteenth and seventeenth century. The two arcades connected the places where the ramparts stood to the Sanctuary of San Luca and to the church of Santa Maria Lacrimosa of Alemanni. The Alemanni Portico is today recognizable only visually, as it is surrounded by urban blocks. While the hill side of San Luca Portico , which was completed much later with the arcade of Meloncello, remains a strong and distinct sign welcoming people entering Bologna from North and West. Within this research, the city is studied by surveying, drawings and photographs, so as to return its representation. The graphic processing completes the conceptual and analytical framework and demonstrates the connection between reading and project, and therefore, it can be considered as useful mean of analysis and intervention on the existing city.

The article investigates the relationship between architecture design and its communication, within the study of the prefab-houses, which now are widespread in Europe, as this housing type is characterized by the design research of optimized and innovative residential solutions. The operational experience conducted on case studies of “Prefab-Houses”, offered original ideas because these buildings, while exceptionally compact, share many features with larger buildings. These can be studied for their aggregability, combinatorial possibilities, furniture, the materials used and development of construction details. The communication of the project and its digital representation is particularly important as retailers generally promote these houses through catalogues. Specialized visualisation systems are therfore needed to represent effectively the inner-outer spaces, materials and customizations, with different techniques such as drawings, abstract-photorealistic rendering and animation. The match between case studies and research was considered successful in terms of teaching goals and besides research directions concerning the relationship between design representation means, modeling and 3D digital design communication systems.