INformation Models for the Fruition of Constructive Knowledge in FORtified Architecture TREATises (16th-18th Century)

Nowadays, digital models are more and more deployed for the study of Cultural Heritage (CH), to enhance documentation, valorisation and dissemination activities and to support appropriate intervention and conservation practices. However, their application to the fortified heritage is a major challenge still requiring innovative solutions. INFORTREAT research project responds to the need to make this knowledge accessible by the open source provision of digital information models of Early-modern fortification projects of urban walls, fortresses and citadels as described in a number of the most important Italian and European treatises on military architecture between the 16th and the 18th centuries. The goal is to translate this knowledge within virtual environments, even by relying on 2D and 3D digital representations that can be readily consulted and interpreted in an open-access web-based digital platform primarily for research and conservation purposes (restoration projects, maintenance plans, etc.), as well as for higher education and other activities promoted by public and private bodies in the field of CH. For the creation of the digital information models, Building Information Modeling (BIM) techniques are applied. The effectiveness of BIM, traditionally set up for the optimization of design, building and management of new constructions, is today internationally recognized in the field of Built Heritage (HBIM), thanks to the possibility to integrate and manage in a single model any data useful to perform an in-depth analysis of an existing artefact.