Dalla Fotografia alla ricostruzione: Porta Maqueda a Palermo

Abstract

The reconstruction of gone, or never built buildings has ever been one of the preferred subjects of digital representation. Many researches have focused the reconstruction of buildings that were modified by human actions, as wars or demolitions, or by natural causes as earthquakes or decay. Many buildings, destroyed or reshaped from the second half of the 19th century have been photographed before they vanished; when no drawing or document are available, the memory of the architecture layout of these buildings is entrusted to few period photos. Digital representation makes the reconstruction of gone buildings from period photos possible. Descriptive Geometry provides the conceptual and operational tool needed for such purpose: perspective restitution. In the pre-digital era perspective restitution has been rarely used for the reconstruction of gone buildings, due to the relevant approximations caused by the implicit features of traditional drawing tools. Digital representation tools overcome most of these limitations and allows the direct restitution of 3D models from a single image. Perspective restitution is an effective tool for the reconstruction of urban sites as well, since it allows the integration of photos and maps. In the reconstruction of urban sites, gone buildings can be scaled using survived buildings as a reference.