Search

The aim of research is the restitution through ex-novo images of the majestic eighteenth-century event, carried out in Paris during the reign of Louis XV and documented in the volume Description des festes données par la ville de Paris […] (1739). Aware of the importance of documentary heritage (which often survives in only images), the goal is to return ‘unedited’ images oriented toward a renewed enjoyment of Cultural Heritage, whose sources are intangible.

The end of the 18th century sets a significant date for the masonry bridges construction technique evolution. Studies regarding the thickness of the pillars and shape of the arches configure innovative theories towards the traditional practice that for centuries has produced masonry bridges characterized by large pillars and round arches by modest span. The masonry bridges construction technique evolution is linked to the design experimentation of the French engineer Jean Rodolphe Perronet (1708–1794), whose program on the construction of bridges includes not only the simultaneous construction of all the arches, but also a considerable reduction of the rise-clear span ratio which, through the adoption of polycentric curves, generates very low arches and the consequent reduction of the pillars number in the water. In this sense, this contribution aims to investigate the treatise sources on the geometric tracing modalities of the semi-oval arches ‘with n centers’ of the masonry bridges by Jean Rodolphe Perronet focusing attention on the analysis of the developments and applications in the 18th-20th centuries of the rule of semi-oval arches ‘with n centers and on the geometric analysis of the project for the Neuilly bridge described by Perronet in the volume Description des Projets et de la Construction des Ponts de Neuilly, deMantes, d’Orléans, […], edites in Paris in the 1788.

The contribution investigates the physical and perceptive inaccessibility of the historic bell towers of Naples, paying particular attention to the S. Gregorio Armeno Monastic Complex. It is a unicum in the Neapolitan context and characterized by a strong environmental and iconic value. It is a testimony of the ancient connection between the monastery of S. Pantaleone and that of S. Gregorio, realized at the beginning of the last millennium. Therefore, it is suspended between the road bordering the homonymous road and appears as a scenic fifth of the same, at the same time. The research opportunity is promoted by the competitive intra/University project PREVENT (funds V:ALERE, University of Campania ‘Luigi Vanvitelli’). A multidisciplinary project, coordinated for the Design area by Ornella Zerlenga. The bell tower has a multisensory character being perceptible by sight and hearing, for its function. So, through the architectural survey of the bell tower and the sound of the bells, experimental reflections on new forms of accessibility for spatial and sensory inclusion through visual, tactile and sound integration are presented here. These experiments call for the activation of policies of accessibility and inclusion of bell towers to the benefit of both normo-equipped people with different sensory forms of learnings the idea is to pursue a plural art, an interaction capable of bringing different sensibilities into dialogue real or virtual perceptive models. Il contributo indaga l'inaccessibilità fisica e percettiva dei campanili storici di Napoli e, in particolare, quello appartenente al Complesso Monacale di San Gregorio Armeno. Un unicum nel contesto partenopeo, caratterizzato da un forte valore ambientale e iconico. Testimonianza dell’antico collegamento, realizzato ad inizio Millennio scorso, tra il monastero di San Pantaleone e quello di San Gregorio. Pertanto risulta sospeso fra i fronti stradali delimitanti l’omonima via e, al contempo, appare come quinta scenica della stessa. L’occasione di ricerca è promossa dal progetto competitivo intra/Ateneo PREVENT (fondi V:ALERE, Università della Campania ‘Luigi Vanvitelli’). Un progetto multidisciplinare, coordinato per l’area del Disegno da Ornella Zerlenga. Il campanile ha, per sua funzione, un carattere multisensoriale essendo percepibile tramite vista e udito. Per questo, attraverso il rilievo architettonico del campanile e del suono delle campane, si presentano qui riflessioni sperimentali su nuove forme di accessibilità per l’inclusione spaziale e sensoriale tramite integrazione visiva, tattile, sonora. Queste sperimentazioni auspicano l’attivazione di politiche di accessibilità e inclusione dei campanili a vantaggio sia di persone normo-dotate che con differenti forme sensoriali di apprendimento. L’idea è perseguire un’arte ‘plurale’, un’interazione capace di far dialogare fra loro sensibilità diverse, derivanti da modelli percettivi polisensoriali, reali o virtuali.

Postfazione

The staircases represent one of the most impressive architectural expressions of the building. Many authors presented a great deal of research over the years on this matter intending to understand how they are designed and laid out. This paper is concerned with a particular structural type of masonry staircase, known as stair with open well or roman staircase. It aims to demonstrate that in masonry-vaulted staircases, the close relationship between the shape and static behavior is particularly evident, and geometry and construction are essential for their stability. The authors have proved this statement by studying Palazzo Di Majo’s open-well staircase in Naples, whose main structure consists of tuff vaults. The first part of the article is substantially descriptive and presents an in-depth description of the geometric and architectural features of the stair. The second part explains all the aspects concerning the equilibrium of this kind of stairways, within Heyman’s theory of masonry.

This contribution is part of a large study conducted on the architectural type of the residential staircase and on the staircases of the eighteenth century in Naples (Italy) and is limited to an analysis on the design theme of the noble staircase. Since ancient times, the power buildings have placed many symbolic connotations in the main staircase (or staircase of honor) aimed at attributing magnificence and representativeness to the building through the built architecture. In the Neapolitan eighteenth century, the residential main staircase finds its reference in that of the Royal Palace. The case study of the main staircase of Palazzo Spinelli di Laurino, located in the ancient center of Naples and which has a peculiar ovate-shaped plan as well as the internal courtyard. For the first time in local literature, the survey of the staircase is compared with that of an underlying environment, equally ovate, little known and never detected, to verify a possible and previous spatial configuration of the staircase, and to put it typologically in relation with European experimentation.

The bell tower is an architectural element that interprets the dialogue between vision and visuality well, being, at the same time, both a religious symbol recognized by the Christian community and a morphological image with a strong visual character (made up of geometric, material, chromatic signs), visible from a distance and place privileged for visual inspection from above due to its considerable height. The research opportunity arises from the funded project V: PREVENT and from the synergy between multiple disciplines (drawing, structures, environmental technical physics) around a cognitive approach of Neapolitan tower bell towers. On a sampling of about 150 bell towers, the themes of typological classification, detection methods (also by means of terrestrial and aerial digital photogrammetry), and the enhancement of an often-inaccessible cultural heritage were addressed. The methodological phases of the research develop an excellent case study, the bell tower of Santa Chiara in Naples described here through the architectural survey in the morphological, geometric- configurative, and visual-perceptive components, to return it to the community as a place of experiential narration, capable of activate the learning of new meanings with the use of graphic signs and through dialogue with the digital technologies of videomapping. In this sense, as part of the most current inclusion policies, the design proposal reinterprets the bell tower from a religious symbol to a cultural icon. Il campanile è un elemento architettonico che bene interpreta il dialogo fra visione e visualità essendo, al contempo, sia simbolo religioso riconosciuto dalla comunità cristiana che immagine morfologica dal forte carattere visuale (fatto di segni geometrici, materici, cromatici), visibile a distanza e luogo privilegiato di ispezione visiva dall’alto per la sua notevole altezza. L’occasione di ricerca nasce dal progetto finanziato V: PREVENT e dalla sinergia fra più discipline (disegno, strutture, fisica tecnica ambientale) attorno a un approccio conoscitivo dei campanili napoletani a torre. Su una campionatura di circa 150 campanili sono stati affrontati i temi della classificazione tipologica, delle modalità di rilevamento (anche tramite fotogrammetria digitale terrestre e aerea), della valorizzazione di un patrimonio culturale spesso inaccessibile. Le fasi metodologiche della ricerca sviluppano un caso-studio eccellente, il campanile di Santa Chiara a Napoli qui descritto attraverso il rilievo architettonico nelle componenti morfologiche, geometrico- configurative e visivo-percettive, per restituirlo alla comunità come un luogo di narrazione esperienziale, capace di attivare l’apprendimento di nuovi significati con l’uso di segni grafici e tramite il dialogo con le tecnologie digitali del videomapping. In tal senso, nell’ambito delle più attuali politiche di inclusione, la proposta progettuale reinterpreta il campanile da simbolo religioso a icona culturale.

L’operato della Atreet art è decisamente eterogeneo in tutte le sue forme espressive, tracciando così una pluralità di punti di vista sulla vastità di temi trattati in rapporto al supporto su cui il disegno è realizzato ovvero al contesto ambientale in cui esso è collocato. Molteplici, infatti, sono stati i temi qui trattati e attraverso cui questo disegno (inteso in senso ampio) si è espresso per attestare una presenza sempre più diffusa di questa forma d’arte visiva (a volte anche multimediale) nella quotidianità architettonica dei luoghi urbani. Street Art is decidedly heterogeneous in all its expressive forms, tracing a plurality of points of view on the vastness of the themes dealt with in relation to the support upon which the drawing is done or the environmental context in which it is placed. Numerous themes have been dealt with here and through which this drawing (understood in a broad sense) was expressed to attest to an increasingly widespread presence of this visual art form (sometimes even multimedia) in the architectural everyday life of urban places.

Nei primi anni Cinquanta del secolo scorso Adriano Olivetti aprì a Pozzuoli in provincia di Napoli una nuova fabbrica di macchine calcolatrici. L’idea rientrava nel piano economico-sociale del Movimento Comunità ovvero investire al di fuori dello storico nucleo delle officine Olivetti a Ivrea e costruire nel sud Italia una nuova occasione di lavoro nonché assistenza alle famiglie degli operai. Il progetto architettonico fu affidato a un gruppo di architetti coordinato da Luigi Cosenza. La fabbrica si mostrò immediatamente come un magistrale esempio di integrazione architettonica nello stupefacente panorama naturale della costa puteolana tant’è che all’inaugurazione dello stabilimento, avvenuta nel 1955, Adriano Olivetti commentò: «di fronte al golfo più singolare del mondo, questa fabbrica si è elevata, nell’idea dell’architetto, in rispetto della bellezza dei luoghi e affinché la bellezza fosse di conforto nel lavoro di ogni giorno». La fabbrica fu quindi concepita alla misura dell’uomo «perché questi trovasse nel suo ordinato posto di lavoro uno strumento di riscatto e non un congegno di sofferenza». La ricerca di sistemi economici alternativi e di idee progettuali a scala architettonica e/o urbana, che concorressero alla realizzazione di modelli ispirati ai bisogni sociali non è sperimentazione nuova in Campania, trovando nell’allora tardo settecentesca Terra di Lavoro un esempio eccellente: Ferdinandopoli, una città di fondazione voluta dal re di Napoli, Ferdinando IV di Borbone, da costruirsi a integrazione della Real Colonia di San Leucio, situata alle spalle dell’attuale Reggia di Caserta e ai piedi del palazzo del Belvedere di San Leucio.

The study of a bell tower requires a multidisciplinary approach, which is not available yet in the scientific literature. The main objective of the PREVENT project, Integrated procedure for assessing and improving the resilience of existing masonry bell Towers at territorial scale, is to set up a procedure comprising the academic disciplines of Drawing, Building physics and Structural engineering. It aims at providing a scientific methodology for the evaluation and conservation of bell towers, in order to enhance their fruition opportunities. Surveying a bell tower is not an immediate operation due to their height. Current metric surveying indirect methodology is based on the construction of numerical models. The geometric or mathematical models constitute the subsequent phase. The use of laser scanner may have disadvantages. The geometric model of the bell tower can be obtained through an aerial survey by a geo-referenced Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (drone) and subsequent photo-modelling technique. It was decided to carry out an indirect survey by using image-based techniques. An approach was carried out, with “airborne acquisitions” via ‘drone’ support. The aerial photographic data sets were acquired by means of flight planning, in free or scheduled mode, to guarantee the entire coverage and minimize noise. The research has been applied to the Neapolitan bell towers. The integration between the knowledge process and the applicative procedures could allow the development of a model available for various strategic objectives: a new method for structural assessment; a general method of analysis aimed at the preservation of an architecture; a final product, conceived to be used by local administrators; tourism enhancement.

Il progetto di ricerca, presentato nel marzo 2020, propone lo studio dei parchi e giardini europei fra XV e XX secolo. Sono individuati, quali exempla caratterizzanti, la Quinta da Regaleira a Sintra in Portogallo, il Parco del Retiro a Madrid ed il Jardin del Principe ad Aranjuez in Spagna, il Petit Trianon a Versailles in Francia, il Giardino di Dessau-Wörlitz in Germania, il Parco di Kungsparken a Malmö in Svezia, il Giardino Inglese della Reggia di Caserta in Italia, il Parco Reale di Tirana in Albania. The research project, presented in March 2020, proposes the study of European parks and gardens between the 15th and 20th centuries. They are identified, as characterizing exempla, of the Quinta da Regaleira in Sintra (Portugal), the Retiro Park in Madrid and the Jardin do Principe in Aranjuez (Spain), the Petit Trianon in Versailles (France), the Garden of Dessau-Wörlitz (Germany), the Kungsparken in Malmö (Sweden), the English Garden of the Royal Palace of Caserta (Italy), the Royal Park of Tirana (Albania).

A partire dal secolo scorso, la tecnologia Polaroid ha posto le basi per la formulazione di un innovativo linguaggio visivo. In questo articolo e al tempo della quarantena da Covid-19, il formato quadrato della stampa fotografica Polaroid (delimitato da una cornice bianca) viene interpretato come metafora dell’immagine mentale della ‘finestra’ da cui l’isolamento sociale ha costretto a osservare il mondo, ridisegnando il concetto stesso di ‘distanza’ in termini di ‘vicinato’. Inserito all’interno del disciplinare del disegno, il contributo affronta il tema della connessione creativa fra disegno (analogico-digitale) e fotografia nell’ambito della progettazione di una narrazione audiovisiva sotto forma di spot pubblicitario di durata breve. Since the last century, Polaroid technology has laid the foundation for the formulation of an innovative visual language. In this article and at the time of the Covid-19 quarantine, the square format of the Polaroid photographic print (delimited by a white frame) is interpreted as a metaphor for the mental image of the ‘window’ from which social isolation forced to observe the world, redesigning the very concept of ‘distance’ in terms of ‘neighborhood’. Inserted within the drawing specification, the contribution addresses the theme of the creative connection between drawing (analogue-digital) and photography as part of the design of an audiovisual narrative in the form of a short-term advertising spot.

Da ogni crisi globale la moda ha tirato fuori il volto della sensibilità comune, portando alla luce le esigenze e i desideri di una società che, di volta in volta, ha dovuto ridefinire priorità e identità. In tal senso, l’emergenza COVID-19 ha generato un’evoluzione del rito della vestizione per cui non ci si veste più in base all’occasione ma in funzione di un’esigenza più generale di comfort e libertà di movimento: outdoor e indoor si fondono sulla scia dello smart working verso un altrettanto smart clothing che combina sportswear e abbigliamento formale. Sullo sfondo di questo abbigliamento passepartout che prescinde dal dress code, l’accessorio diventa protagonista indiscusso, un vero e proprio gioiello da esibire in formato maxi. L’attuale crisi economica ha visto crescere l’importanza dei gioielli d’alta gamma che nel 2020 hanno consolidato il proprio ruolo di beni-rifugio: i giacimenti di smeraldi, diamanti e rubini sono risorse esauribili, e proprio per la loro crescente rarità hanno rappresentato un ottimo investimento “di emergenza” nell’ultimo anno. After every global crisis, fashion has brought out the face of common sensibility, bringing to light the needs and desires of a society that, from time to time, has had to redefine its priorities and identity. In this sense, the COVID-19 emergency has generated an evolution in the ritual of dressing as we no longer dress according to the occasion but to a more general need for comfort and freedom of movement: outdoor and indoor merge in the wake of smart working towards a smart clothing that combines sportswear and formal wear. Against the backdrop of this passepartout clothing that is independent of the dress code, the accessory becomes the undisputed protagonist, a real jewel to be shown off in maxi format. The current economic crisis has seen an increase in the importance of high-end jewelry, which in 2020 has consolidated its role as a safe haven asset: the deposits of emeralds, diamonds and rubies are exhaustible resources, and precisely because of their increasing rarity they have represented an excellent “emergency” investment in the last year.

This paper investigates the ephemeral architecture of the eighteenth century in Naples through the literary and iconographic sources found in the volume Idee per le pubbliche feste nel ritorno in Napoli de’nostri Augusti Sovrani dalla Germania […] by Gaetano Barba (1971). The goal is an unprecedented representation, modeling and fruition project, accompanied by a graphic visualization of the places to better understand the architectural and urban space in the absence of allusive images of three–dimensionality. Subsequently, the visual construction of the contexts on an urban and architectural scale made it possible to disseminate the compositional elements of the celebrations and the internal perceptions to a non–specialist public. Finally, an Augmented–Reality application prototype.

This article deals with the survey and representation of the dome of Santa Maria della Sanità in Naples (Italy). The survey led to a geometric analysis of the spatial configuration of the dome, the drawing of its majolica decoration and its structural behavior. The overall objectives of this research can be briefly outlined as follows. First, the study focuses on defining the correct geometry of the dome obtained through accurate surveys. Finally, the study performs a simplified structural analysis of the compound dome-buttress system set within the theoretical framework of the Limit Analysis through the graphical statics.

La pandemia di COVID-19 ha stravolto le nostre vite e le routine giornaliere che avevamo sempre dato per scontate. La scelta di outfits e di gioielli per le continue e differenti occasioni sociali è stata attualmente ridimensionata a quella domestica o di immediata prospicienza. Da ciò è scaturito un consumo da parte dei fruitori di accessori più artigianali e con una minore dipendenza dalla Global value chain. L’artigianato, difatti, si è dimostrato più resiliente allo shock pandemico. All’interno di queste attuali premesse, l’analisi spaziale dei luoghi e delle testimonianze figurative presenti nel Complesso archeologico-monumentale paleocristiano di Cimitile ha proposto uno spunto di ricerca per la formulazione di proposte progettuali nel campo del fashion design, con particolare attenzione all’ambito del disegno ornamentale e alle metodiche del disegno di moda del gioiello, e una promozione di valorizzazione dei luoghi attualmente ‘abbandonati’ dai flussi turistici, specialmente quelli immediatamente prossimi alle nostre residenze. The COVID-19 pandemic upset our lives and the daily routines we had always taken for granted. The choice of outfits and jewels for the continuous and different social occasions has currently been reduced to the domestic one or to those of immediate prospect. This has resulted in a consumption by users of more artisanal accessories and with less dependence on the Global value chain. In fact, the Crafts proved more resilient to the pandemic shock. Within these current premises, the spatial analysis of the places and of the figurative testimonies present in the Paleochristian Archaeological-Monumental Complex of Cimitile has proposed a starting point for research for the formulation of project proposals in the field of fashion design, with particular attention to the sphere of ornamental design and the methods of jewelery fashion design, and a promotion of enhancement of places currently ‘abandoned’ by tourist flows, especially those immediately next to our residences.

As part of the Neapolitan Cultural Heritage, Palazzo Ayerbo Cassano d’Aragona is a historical building of considerable architectural value. For many years the building has been in a serious state of abandonment and is currently owned by the well-known Neapolitan gallery owner, Giuseppe Morra, who has rehabilitated the palace into the Archive of Contemporary Art. In this sense, Giuseppe Morra opened a new museum, Casa Morra in Naples, in Palazzo Cassano Ayerbo d’Aragona, that will gradually be refurbished to house the large Morra’s collection. The scientific interest in the study of Palazzo Cassano Ayerbo d’Aragona is recent, and the research is developed based on the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Fondazione Morra and the Department of Architecture and Industrial Design of the University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli” to not only collaborate scientifically with the aim of producing critical knowledge on the constructive vicissitudes of the staircase and Palazzo Cassano Ayerbo d’Aragona, but also to carry out initiatives that will positively influence the cultural growth of the territory.

Representing fortified architecture to narrate and enhance the Alexandrian territory borderThe Piemonte cultural territory is also characterized by the significant presence of complex defensive systems, grouped by types and orographic configuration. Specifically,this paper will address asystematic and unitary re-reading of the territory of the Alessandria area, which includes: the sixteenth-century Cittadella di Casale, of the Gonzagas; the Citadel of Alexandria (1732), by Giulio Ignazio Bertola; Valenza and its fortifications (from the “Spanish” period with interventions by Gaspare Beretta, also interested in the fort / Castello Tortona); that of Gavi (restored “in the modern” by Gaspare Maculano known as Fiorenzuola, the friar who condemned Galileo). Following thirty years international research, the objectives of the work are twofold: the first aims to physically connect in this system a “network” of thematically dedicated tourist itineraries, through documentary paths that reconstruct historical events, construction phases and transformation, (in similitude with the ECCOFORT project, in the province of Verona). Following other works, by the authors already dedicated to the Alexandrian, through the advanced 3D modeling (like the one carried out in the reconstruction of the fort of Gavi) the second objective of the present contribution will follow the same restoring and reconstructive procedure. Through digitalized anastylosis, even dynamized, the Castle of Tortona will be rebuilt on the basis –among other things– of the conspicuous documentation (dated 1799, the year of the Napoleonic siege, followed by demolition, in 1801) found at the Osterreichisches Staatsarchiv, Kriegsarchiv of Vienna. The critical reconstruction is now made possible thanks to the precious wealth of knowledge, matured over the decades by Marotta, Zerlenga, Abello: with (indexed) data, including metrics, graphics and visual returns. Drawing between real and virtual, it will be possible to reconnect individual episodes, comparable and critically selected information, by means of congruently connected interventions, both physically and digitally. Finally, in a project of knowledge, conservation and valorisation, the “local” dimension dialogues and integrates with the European dimension.