Geometric Primitives Assessing Italian-Czech Vault Construction Techniques in Baroque Period

Abstract

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> The developments of the latest technology in the field of Digital Cultural Heritage (DCH) are revolutionizing the methods of surveying, representing and managing the built heritage. The integrated use of 3D survey instruments such as laser scanning, digital photogrammetry and the new holistic way to represent the architecture, based on the Building Information Modeling (BIM), allows the collection, analysis and archiving of a large amount of data, by increasing information sharing among a great number of experts involved during the life cycle of the building. The paper focuses on the connection between Italy and Czech in terms of vaults patterns and construction techniques. The two case studies are the frame vault of the chapel of the Italian Cultural Institute and the barrel vault with lunettes of the Klementinum Baroque Library. They are both unique examples of the great expertise of architects and craftsmen that worked in Bohemia across the 17th and 18th centuries. Most of them were from the North of Italy, like the ones that worked in the building sites of the two case studies. The in-depth study of the construction techniques and the complex shapes needs the use of new scan-to-BIM modeling requirements, based on the definition of geometric primitives useful for the generation of intelligent three-dimensional models able to integrate different types of data. Finally, the acquired data are included in a database that collects information coming from both Italian and Czech studies, raising awareness among citizens of the richness of their built heritage.</p>

Criteria and Tools to Catalogue Brick-Masonry Vaults. The Gis-Database of Frame, a Fasce and Planterian Vaults Between the 16th and 18th Century in Northern Italy

“…The dissemination could involve other regions, even in Europe. It seems proven by previous research that shows the dissemination of frame vaults in the Czech Republic, such as the ones of the Klementinum Baroque Library and Italian Cultural Institute in Prague, and the Abbey in Broumov (Stanga, Hasníková, Brumana, Grimoldi, & Banfi, 2019). The presence of frame vaults in the Czech Republic can find an explanation in the work of Italian architects and craftsmen who traveled from the Lake Areas (Lugano, Lecco, Como) to work outside Italy (Della Torre, Mannoni, & Pracchi, 1997).…”

The Assessment of the Baroque Vault Construction Technique By Scan-to-Bim Process: St. Bernard’s Chapel in the Plasy Monastery

“…Nowadays, the possibility to interconnect all the information coming from the different case studies can show how families of workers across Europe (Della Torre, 1997;Mutschlechner, 1990) shared experiences and know-how in the design and construction of vaulted systems. Furthermore, the low cost and speed of advanced surveying techniques, together with the GEODB virtual hubs, allow to acquire data in a massive way and to compare vaulted systems across time and space (Brumana et al, 2018b;Stanga et al, 2019). The availability of Virtual Hubs technologies (Mazzetti, et al, 2017) supporting semantic, geographic and temporal queries on the Open Data (including Geographic Open Data) has been used to build a web-accessible platform to feed all the data gathered through the surveying and qualitative analysis, together with historical information on the vaulted systems (Brumana et al 2018b).…”