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With the broadening of the concept of Cultural Heritage - which now, in addition to great monuments, also includes urban cores, landscapes and intangible manifestations - the possibilities for heritage conservation actions have also expanded. Nowadays, in a globalised world immersed in technologies that are evolving with astonishing rapidity, precisely technological innovation can be an important ally for the enhancement of historic public spaces.On the occasion of the bicentenary of the placement of the existing obelisk in the “Largo da Memória” public space (in the centre of São Paulo), a three-dimensional survey pilot project was carried out in cooperation with local municipality. One of the objectives of this project was to develop an example of “good practices” for the conservation of urban space and a possible benchmark for the use of digital data by local technicians avoiding expansive software and hardware solutions. Thus, the three-dimensional survey of the area helped to evaluate the effectiveness of the optimisation of the integrated procedure, taking into consideration the importance of the public space of the Largo, at the intersection of Xavier de Toledo and Quirino de Andrade streets. Technology transfer actions played an important role within the whole process, enabling further evaluations for the conservation of the place by local authorities.

The object of study of this paper is the Church of Cristo Obrero y Nuestra Señora de Lourdes, in the city of Atlántida, Uruguay, designed and built by Uruguayan engineer Eladio Dieste between 1956 and 1960, and proclaimed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2021. Furthermore, the object of study is the outset of Eladio Dieste’s experimentations with reinforced brickwork, which resulted in innovative thin-shell structural typologies. Hence, the objective of this article is to verify the geometrical relationships within the continuous gaussian vaults of the Cristo Obrero’ roof and the ruled surfaces of its lateral walls. The proposed methodological procedures for this research were the in situ visitation of the object of study, followed by the consultation of original construction drawings, as well as the exploratory parametric modeling and polynomial regression of the architectural geometry of the Church of Cristo Obrero. Amongst the expected contributions for this research reside the dissemination of Latin-American modern architectural heritage sites within European academic journals, digital design technologies within Latin-American research centres, as well as the fostering of the comprehension of the design and construction process of the Uruguayan engineer Eladio Dieste.

A severe boron pollution has been recognized in the shallow aquifer of Isola di Castelluccio (central-eastern Tuscany, Italy) since 2009. Previous investigations showed that the high boron concentrations (up to 57 mg L-1) were related to an anthropogenic source. It was likely due to current and/or past industrial and artisanal activities, which were using B-compounds during their productive cycles. However, a univocal source of boron has so far not been recognized. In this work, we present and discuss new geochemical and isotopic data related to an extensive campaign (June 2016) carried out in 33 domestic well and piezometer waters. In addition, the results from a three-weekly to monthly monitoring survey (from August 2014 to December 2019) on selected waters were used to recognize signals in response to dry and wet periods or related to the presence of the recently installed hydraulic barrier. To verify the efficiency of the hydraulic barrier a numerical model of the shallow aquifer was performed by using the MODFLOW computer program. This study has allowed to identify where the source of contamination is likely located. This implies that specific investigations can now be carried out to definitively remove the anthropogenic source of boron.

This contribution is based on a joint research project developed by the University of Ferrara, Department of Architecture (Italy) and the Escola Politecnica USP of São Paulo (Brazil) by the which it was possible to scan the interior and exterior surfaces of the ancient blast furnaces of São João do Ipanema, an extraordinary example of industry of cast iron production of the XIX century.The research was aimed at investigating the evolution of the blast furnace technique exploring a surprisingly rich Brazilian technical literature, with description records and drawings dated between the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Beside historical documentation it was also implemented on site a 3D survey campaign of the furnaces to understand how the profiles were modified along the time.The first outputs of the project were thus focused on the evaluation of the transformation of the equipment in terms of more efficient shapes able to enhance the relationship between blast furnace profile fuel consumption and productivity.The use of accurate digital technology, the following CAD elaboration of the chimney, the 3d model and the comparison with XIX century technical drawings confirmed that European directors of the plant were familiar with the most advance technical and scientific procedures and brought to the site a great technological improvement by an innovative know-how.