Architectural Intangible Heritage and Graphic Reconstruction. Terminological and Philological Notes

UNESCO’s extension of the concept of heritage to intangible has been changing the status of architectural designs and the operative frame of the practice of architectural reconstruction. The variety of reconstruction cases requires specific procedures and terms. The terms are here investigated by an analysis of the historical and theoretical roots of such a practice, focusing on the role of Quatremère de Quincy; the procedures are discussed by means of a series of personal experiences concerning with literary architecture, architectural projects, and fictive architecture. They are retrospectively analysed from the point of view of the sources – to define both the content and the appearance – which can be ‘endogenous’ to the document/monument (and priority) or ‘exogenous’, with a focus on the transparency of procedure.