Digital Models for Historical Architecture. Cestus Bridge and Fabrician Bridge at Tiber’s Island

The paper presented here traces a methodological path for the graphic analysis of existing documentation in order to reconstruct historical transformations. This approach makes use of two- and three-dimensional models, conceived as a tool for the constructive, geometric and morphological analysis of the architecture. The experimentation is applied to the Cestus Bridge over the Tiber. Starting from the three-dimensional documentation of the state of the art, obtained by means of massive 3D data capture systems, the iconographic research has made it possible to collect and catalogue the representations of the site in different periods and has constituted the basis for developing reconstructive hypotheses on different scales. At an urban scale, results shed light on the development of the entire area through the history; on the architectural scale instead, results demonstrate how the traces of the past can be interpreted thanks to diachronic graphic models. The case study here presented is part of a wider research on stone bridges spread out in the whole roman empire. These structures are able to merge together in a very unique way several aspects related not only to engineering and architecture but also to technology, urban planning and the image of the city.

Il contributo qui presentato traccia un percorso metodologico per l’analisi grafica della documentazione esistente finalizzata alla ricostruzione delle trasformazioni storiche. Tale approccio si avvale di modelli bidimensionali e tridimensionali, utilizzati come strumento di analisi costruttiva, geometrica e morfologica dell’architettura. La sperimentazione in oggetto è declinata rispetto al ponte Cestio sul Tevere. A partire dalla documentazione tridimensionale dello stato di fatto, ottenuta mediante sistemi di acquisizione massiva, l’indagine iconografica ha permesso di raccogliere e catalogare le rappresentazioni del luogo in epoche differenti ed ha costituito la base per sviluppare ipotesi ricostruttive sia su scala architettonica che su quella urbana.