PHYSICAL AND DIGITAL MODELS: AN INSTRUMENT OF KNOWLEDGE FOR THE URBAN SURVEY. THE HISTORICAL CENTER OF CASTELMARTE

Below is an account of a teaching experience, in which the use of 3D modeling, digital and physical, has heightened the desire of students to increase their knowledge of the old-town center of the Municipality of Castelmarte. The ultimate goal of the survey was to make a physical model of part of the territory which included the old mountain settlement, with the most significant social-life buildings: the town hall, the parish complex, the sports field, the small town park. To achieve this, it was necessary to use different survey methods, supplementing direct survey with the use of the digital survey instruments used in topography. The graphic rendering of the survey was developed by integrating various types of 3D modeling software which, through subsequent steps, led to the creation of a physical model, developed at the Prototyping Laboratory of the Milan Polytechnic, of the whole of the old-town center. The following images document the various work stages and the different survey and representation methods used. These clearly show the process of gradual advancement of knowledge developed during the physical modeling stage, regarding the morphology of the hilly terrain, the shape and mutual position of the buildings, the different slopes of the pitched roofs. The digital modeling method used to create the physical model requires extreme precision in the realization of the design and was therefore the stimulus to perform a detailed survey of the existing situation; at the same time, it provided the opportunity to learn to use and compare different types of software. Learning was verified directly through the tangible result of the physical model, built on the basis of the 3D model, using a rapid prototyping machine.