The
Course aims at providing the students with all instruments necessary to
reading, representing, analyzing an architectural element in all its different
aspects (metric, structural, formal, etc.) according to an as much as possible
scientific approach.

There
can be no doubt that the first step in approaching this task is setup a
Knowledge System capable to collect, interpret and store information about the
artefact.

The
components making up this system, however, are of various types: quantitative, first and foremost
(essentially resulting from surveying operations), but also qualitative. While the former can and
must be channeled through a rigorous scientific approach, the latter draw on
the surveyor’s sensitivity and interpretative flair, that show themselves, at
times even intuitively and extemporaneously, capable of attaining levels of
understanding that are denied to simple “measurement”.

In
studies of architectural elements (both on the large and the small scale), this
process is particularly marked: not only is it necessary to construct a
multidisciplinary database that is as consistent and rigorous as possible, but
many different skills must be integrated in order to suggest interpretations
that transcend the sectorial.

While
the qualitative component lies in the reign of irrefutability (in the sense
proposed by Popper), to the quantitative one belongs the Survey, one of the most powerful and reliable tools developed over
the years in order to achieve what Descartes used to define profound knowledge. It actually implies
the idea of measurement, that is to
say the possibility of turning into quantity some qualities of the studied
phenomenon (in this case an artifact, a building, a site, etc.) by using the
ratio between the measured quantity and an appropriate unit of measure.

Let
us try to clarify this fundamental point, firstly from a linguistic point of
view: the term Survey refers in fact
to a very structured process that leads to the construction of 2D or 3D models
starting from a real object. The whole workflow can be broken-down into several
different tasks of which, certainly, the designing
of the Survey represents the first crucial step of the whole process. It is
during this phase that goals, priorities, required equipment and products (even
in terms of deliverables) are defined. The acquisition
of data (capturing, surveying) represents the operational implementation of
the survey project leading to the database corresponding to a simplified model
of the objectual complexity made out from the metric information. All
subsequent tasks in the survey process dealing with selection, interpretation
and representation of acquired data
actually lead to the models (3D,
2D-drawings, etc.) that somehow contribute to enlighten the investigated
phenomenon.

All
activities will address the problem of designing and implementing such a scientific survey. In this framework
lectures and workshops will focus on the survey design, the difference between
direct and instrumental surveying and finally on the problems connected with
the planimetric and altimetrical surveying (polygonals, trilateration,
triangulation, forward intersection). This theoretical information will always
correspond to practical activities by a concrete application consisting in the
survey (direct, instrumental, massive) of an historical building and the
production of standard deliverables (plan views, elevations, sections).

Getting into details these are some of the main subjects discussed during
the course:

History of architectural survey

Survey throughout history: theory, methodologies and instruments. The
historical analysis will start from the classical ages, cross the Middle Ages
and the Renaissance up to the great surveyors of the XIX century.

Hints about  History of Cartography,
ancient Metrology and the mutual relationships between ancient units of measure
will be given.

Survey methodology

Theory of measure, the concept of uncertainty, rules to be observed while
taking any measurement.

Direct survey: general problems, instruments and techniques, traditional
methodologies.

Instrumental and photogrammetric survey: general problems, instruments and
techniques, traditional methodologies.

The massive survey technologies: 3D scanning, Structure from Motion (SfM).

Urban survey: general problems and methodologies.

The Survey oriented to restoration and retrofitting of buildings.

Graphic representation technique of surveyed data.

Graphic and representation standards, conventional symbologies

Representation scales and information content

Thematic cartography for architectural survey: dating, crack mapping,
materials, state of conservation of surfaces.

Cataloguing standards according to I.C.C.D.