Developing critical knowledge of twentieth-century cultural heritage via massive survey. The case of the conservation plan of the Stadio Flaminio in Rome

This study addresses the knowledge process carried out for the conservation plan of the Stadio Flaminio in Rome by Pier Luigi Nervi and his son Antonio. Within this process, the massive survey activity played a key role. The multidisciplinary investigation of the Stadio Flaminio, one of the iconic reinforced concrete sport facilities designed and built by Nervi for the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, was made possible by a Getty Foundation Keeping It Modern 2017 grant. As known, the conservation of twentieth-century cultural heritage hinges on developing knowledge and understanding about its cultural significance. Therefore, by restricting ourselves to consider the Flaminio’s tangible values, the knowledge process aspects reported in this paper are described according to three phases. At first, from the available original final design drawings and archive documents, the development of a reliable “as-built” BIM model is described. Then, the massive survey campaign providing with detailed information on the actual state of the Flaminio is reported. The comparison between the acquired point cloud and the Flaminio BIM model based on the original design is eventually discussed.