This paper focuses on the relationship between stereotomic traces and building construction tech-niques. Starting from the first essential drawings representing stone cutting methods in full scale – which are still visible in some Gothic cathedrals in France and Spain – it will be analyzed the evolution of stone cutting drawings to the most recent examples in 19th–century treatises. In particular, it will be examined the progress in terms of representation according to different centuries concentrating on the development of theory and practice. It will be therefore given a short overview of the most important Renaissance essayists dealing with changes in representation methods according to the codification of assumptions related to descriptive geometry. In the last part it will be proposed the involvement of augmented reality techniques in order to visualize and study Louis Monduit’s treatise on stereotomy through the use of digital pop–ups.
AI+AR: Cultural Heritage, Museum Institutions, Plastic Models and Prototyping. A State of Art
The links between representation and artificial intelligence (AI) invade many fields of architectural re-search, recording continuous and significant advances: they require, on the one hand, a constant update of the state of the art and, on the other hand, careful consideration of the role of Representation in interdisciplinary research in this field. The present contribution intends to investigate these intertwining in some of the most frequented research fields in recent years: the valorization and communication of Cultural Heritage and cultural tourism, the experiences in the museum field, the research on the role of the prototype within the processes of artificial intelligence applied to architecture.
Drawing Automata
The research analyses the evolution of automatic drawing technology, starting with some singular me-chanical experiences, such as the puppets by Pierre and Henry–Louis Jaquet–Droz and Henri Maillar-det up to developments in graphic technology for digital drawing, such as the ones by Ivan Sutherland, Timothy Johnson and Nicholas Negroponte.Finally some potentials in the use of intelligent algorithms are described, showing how it is possible to use shape grammar for architecture, as the experiences by Hank Koning and Julie Eizenberg on Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie houses demostrated.
Data, Models and Computer Vision: Three Hands–on Projects
Advances in information and communication technologies unveil unprecedented opportunities in the documentation and analysis of architectural and urban assets. Nevertheless, the (over–)abundance of data does not always seem sufficient for a thorough understanding. This contribution summarizes three connected research experiences that produced apps and prototypes exploiting geospatial da-tabases, AI for image recognition, and AR based on model tracking, applied to built heritage contexts. The three cases contribute to a reflection on the interpretation of the form of the built environment as a means to produce shared knowledge and operational outcomes.
The Magnificent AI & AR Combinations: Limits? Gorgeous Imperfections!
Time and Space persist, in the digital age, as coordinates in which human presence is located. We will analyze some forms in which it is demonstrated “scenarios” concerning: a) spatial prefigurations of human ‘refuges’; a transition place between external and internal. Phenomenology experienced, in moving through the atrium of Alberto Campo Baeza’s school in Loeches, crossed by the pupils. Movements punctuated, in opposite directions, by natural light variations and related shadows that continuously reconfigure it. AR b) measurements, regarding the astral motion of a satellite and shad-ow creations, revealed through light features. Variations defining the possibility in measuring time, due to three “bodies”, one that illuminates, another that is illuminated, and an intermediate one, receiving the shadow. c) relationships, where Exalt and Hologram, evoke in AR sequences the preservation of species, in which we are already protagonist, and in ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’, struggling with AI.
Virtual Tours and Representations of Cultural Heritage: Ethical Issues
Nowadays museums realities are increasingly interested in introducing advanced technological tools, in order to preserve and enhance the Cultural Heritage, as well as to make it more accessible and attractive. In fact, digital tools, such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR), allow to pro-vide effective responses to the needs of different types of users, to enhance the expressive qualities of the cultural asset, as well as to enrich the visitor’s learning possibilities. However, the integration of new technologies in the management of Cultural Heritage involves different type of ethical issues. The paper analyses some of the ethical issues related to ontological, economic, and social aspects, trying to outline some principles able to limit these critical implications.
Artificial Intelligency, Big Data and Cultural Heritage
In recent decades, the cultural heritage sector has benefited from solutions offered by ICT for the conservation, management, enhancement and communication of cultural heritage; today this specific sector benefits from the infinite potential of application of AI. The proposed research identifies the three main lines of research that operate in the cultural heritage exploiting the synergy between machine learning, big data and AI, starting from the analysis of the state of the art and a subsequent first taxonomic approximation of artificial intelligence systems. The analysis of some case studies developed in the field of recovery and restoration of cultural heritage, monitoring and prevention of damage, data acquisition and analysis of the same, confirm the real potential of AI: trigger knowledge from knowledge.
The Role of Drawing in Data Analysis and Data Representation
This paper discusses the role of Drawing in representing and designing new epistemological models during the current AI spread, especially in relation to new advanced tools available to scientists. The accelerated development of technologies for data visualization and immersive and augmented expe-riences consolidates shared workflows, while criticism and genealogies of such tools are too often left aside. Therefore, scholars have not only to develop new technological tools and applied meth-odologies but also to work on shared sets of theoretical concepts that are necessary foundations to designed contents. The history of representation – especially maps on one side, perspective on the other – provides most of the necessary common ground, which is much needed if we choose that it is still worth governing AIs as much as we can, instead of abandoning ourselves to ‘the end of theory’, which would imply the end of any meaningful scientific drawing made by and for humans.
Segmentation protocols in the digital twins of monumental heritage: a methodological development
The paper shows an advancement of the research that the authors have been carrying out in recent years in semantic structuring of digital architectural representations field, with a focus on the issue of uncertainty of annotations. The studies carried out in this regard have shown how the domain experts specialization determines a vision and interpretation of the same architectural object that we could define “categorized”. The interest was, then, in verifying which categories of experts have a greater degree of agreement in classifying and segmenting architectural elements, to highlight which specializations contribute the most in enriching the semantic reasoning about such forms. Aiming to broaden this reasoning, the research was deepened with annotation sessions concerning architecture examples that didn’t correspond to the classical orders rule but included wider fields of historical heritage (from sacred to fortified architecture). The aim is to verify whether the uncertainty of annotation is actually ascribable to a specific segment of the historical heritage, for example, the classical world, or whether the question is broader and as such in needs deeper thinking.
How Do Nature-Based Solutions’ Color Tones Influence People’s Emotional Reaction? An Assessment via Virtual and Augmented Reality in a Participatory Process
Simulations of urban transformations are an effective tool for engaging citizens and enhancing their understanding of urban design outcomes. Citizens’ involvement can positively contribute to foster resilience for mitigating the impact of climate change. Successful integration of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) into the urban fabric enables both the mitigation of climate hazards and positive reactions of citizens. This paper presents two case studies in a southern district of Milan (Italy), investigating the emotional reaction of citizens to existing urban greenery and designed NBS. During the events, the participants explored in Virtual Reality (VR) (n = 48) and Augmented Reality (AR) (n = 63) (i) the district in its current condition and (ii) the design project of a future transformation including NBS. The environmental exploration and the data collection took place through the exp-EIA© method, integrated into the mobile app City Sense. The correlations between the color features of the viewed landscape and the emotional reaction of participants showed that weighted saturation of green and lime colors reduced the unpleasantness both in VR and AR, while the lime pixel area (%) reduced the unpleasantness only in VR. No effects were observed on the Arousal and Sleepiness factors. The effects show high reliability between VR and AR for some of the variables. Implications of the method and the benefits for urban simulation and participatory processes are discussed.