Erika Elefante

Digital survey and parametric-semantic modeling of historical or conventional building artifacts are becoming progressively more oriented toward HBIM (Heritage Building Information Modelling) to XR (Extended Reality) digital fruition projects. This encompasses a wide range of applications, from technical management to historical-scientific popularization of the architectural heritage. In this sense, the research explores the potential of BIM-to-XR virtualization systems concerning the systematization of historiographic documentation and interaction between different types of datasets for managing and disseminating the heritage. In particular, the research presents a prototypal experience conducted on Mostra d'Oltremare in Naples, Italy, a mid-20th-century exhibition center. In particular, the northwest access area had a rationalist layout, while the current configuration strongly differs from the monumental, exedra-shaped one built on a project by Arch. Stefania Filo Speziale, which was largely destroyed by World War II bombing. Thus, to document and facilitate the analysis of the original configurations, the original archival sources have been digitized and cataloged; moreover, reality-based integrated digital survey campaigns have been performed for the acquisition of metric-morphological data of the complex and the segmentation of the characteristic chromatic features of the residual decorative apparatuses. This has enabled the development of a BIM-oriented multi-scale information repository to enrich the real environment with digital content, thus creating an augmented reality experience. The latter has been introduced to create a virtual tool for querying and manipulating BIM databases, using the potential of visual programming languages and traditional scripts to create a two-way flow of data between BIM and AR.

The work that is presented here shows the results of the survey and material characterization campaign, performed through digital information acquisition and management processes of the Temple of Venus in Baia, in the framework of the activities by the Departments of Civil, Building, and Environmental Engineering of the University of Naples Federico II, in agreement with the Archaeological Park of Campi Flegrei. The artifact stands as a deeply interesting example of an architectural palimpsest, which - despite being involved by significant structural reinforcement interventions - presents interesting technical solutions, to be further investigated in their singularity and specificity. Unfortunately, it cannot be currently visited, until the execution of works to guarantee its complete and safe accessibility, also in terms of structural safety. The use of digital methodologies for data acquisition, in the integration of range and image-based survey techniques, and their semantic de-discretization has allowed systematizing the developed knowledge into models that can be easily queried and implemented over time, where both the geometric and the information component are indispensable for orienting and elaborating a conscious and articulate restoration project, as required by this building.