This paper presents a digital documentation methodology designed for the conservation and adaptive reuse of built heritage, tested within an international educational framework. The approach integrates photogrammetry, mobile laser scanning (MLS), drone-based imaging, and immersive technologies to generate interactive and metrically reliable digital outputs. Implemented through a collaboration between the University of Pavia and the Polytechnic of Krakow, the methodology was applied to the Hebdowski Palace in Krakow, an abandoned heritage site of architectural significance.
The study combines theoretical instruction with practical, on-site data acquisition and post-processing, enabling students to collect, interpret, and visualize spatial and material information using open-source tools. The workflow supports rapid generation of point clouds, 3D models, and immersive environments, suitable for both technical analysis and public engagement.
Key results include the creation of a multi-layered digital narrative structured around thematic scenarios, enabling detailed documentation of architectural elements, pathologies, and conservation needs. A 360-degree virtual tour consolidates this output into an accessible digital platform, facilitating both education and heritage valorisation.
Beyond its pedagogical role, the research demonstrates how fast, low-cost digital tools can contribute to broader heritage conservation strategies aligned with European frameworks such as the 2030 Agenda and the New European Bauhaus. This methodology promotes an interdisciplinary, open-access model of heritage documentation that bridges academic learning with real-world application, offering a replicable model for similar contexts across Europe.
Tag: Built Heritage
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Digital methodologies for architectural heritage preservation: integrating photogrammetry, mobile laser scanning, and immersive technologies
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Digital Twinning processes for the built heritage construction site: opportunities and implementation scenarios
Abstract
This work investigates the introduction of concepts, processes, and methods of digital twinning to construction sites in the field of built heritage construction sites, analyzing the related opportunities and proposing an initial applicative framework. The presented architecture is conceived to face both the complexity of the artefact – in terms of its historical evolution, its configuration, the presence of values related to traditional construction methods, etc. – and of the activities and operations performed on its construction site, including the production, elaboration, and use of information in the different decision processes.
This paper aims to provide a theoretical, methodological, and technical base to support the design and implementation of a digital twin for a construction site within the built heritage field. -
A Modern “machine for living”. The Villa Girasole in Marcellise in Italy
Abstract
In the XX century, Italian architects experimented with the use of new European construction vanguards: concrete and steel materials for building frames, new cladding systems, and many other technologies for structures and envelopes. However, while other countries have imposed heavy economic sanctions on Italy, the Italian Government adopted an economic protection protocol to improve protectionist policies of self-production. This situation has led to the optimization of national resources and the creation of experimental models of architecture, often beyond the “limits of physics”. Villa Girasole in Marcellise (Verona, Italy) by Angelo Invernizzi is a current example of this innovation process, which has enhanced knowledge about construction techniques, domotics, and building energy systems. Villa Girasole has been described as a masterpiece of Italian Rationalism and Futurism architecture. In fact, the building can turn on itself with a revolving and circular rails system (as aeronautical engineering systems). With this movement, the building can follow the daily and seasonal orientation of the sun, improving the building’s energy performance. Moreover, the building adopted a futuristic cladding system (Alumàn), many insulating Italian materials (Eraclit), and important building systems like concrete framework (with Vierendeel beams) and steel frames. The construction and typological analysis of this masterpiece represent a necessary condition to improve the knowledge of the contemporary design process. In fact, from the heritage experience, the architects can design new building systems that follow the requirements of environmental sustainability and energy saving, with domotics systems and new building materials.
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Mapping and monitoring building decay patterns by photomodelling based 3D models
Abstract
A framework is presented for the evaluation and diagnosis of the state of conservation of the built heritage, based on the use of virtual immersive environments and three-dimensional models, as essential tools for the analysis and correlation of diagnostic data. Thus, some early studies are presented on the application of image processing routines that might extract from the point clouds some relevant information toward the semi-automated control of cracking patterns and surface alterations in heritage buildings
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BIM and Behavioural Simulation for existing buildings re-use design
Abstract
This paper presents the development of a modelling and simulation approach oriented to the prediction of possible re-use phenomena in the field of existing buildings and built heritage. Its scope is to support the complex balancing of conservation and functional requirements. The approach is based on an Agent-Based Modeling approach that includes entities belonging to the three macro areas – building, use process and users – considered.
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Urban disaster resilience. The role of built heritage in historical Italian towns
Abstract
The concept of Resilience is now closely related to Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). The built heritage plays an increasingly important role in the definition and implementation of urban resilience to disasters. In particular, historical Italian towns represent a significant example of urban organism, evolved and adapted itself a result of the seismic history of the country, which has characterized morphologies, typologies and masonry construction techniques. The objective of the research is to provide a proposal for preventive strategies for the post-crisis reconstruction, aimed to the implementation of urban resilience.
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Recovery and reuse of the architectural and urban heritage of Carbonia, materials for a Handbook
Abstract
The research, currently underway, aims to outline the construction history of the company town of Carbonia, together with the satellite towns, Bacu Abis and Cortoghiana, in order to build the foundations and materials for a “Handbook for the Recovery”, focused primarily on the residential buildings and its urban fabric. It does not provide a catalogue of standardized solutions, but merely defines a knowledge base to guide the designers towards the recognition of the buildings’ invariant aspects and the understanding of the original architectural expression.
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Traditional iron building elements in Etnau2019s territory: the front doors
Abstract
In the study of traditional construction equipment the building elements in iron are generally present little if neglected at all. In the historical centres, also in eastern Sicily, you can see the widespread presence of iron works such as railings, front doors, shelters. The documentation of their geometrical and constructive aspects, therefore, becomes an important factor for the preservation of the urban image. The analysis here conducted on the ironworks, in eastern Sicily, has been done to identify their formal and constructive aspects and define their mensiochronological parameters