[05] BAROQUE TOPOLOGIES
Santa Maria in Campitelli
Rome, Italy · Spring 2018
PROJECT TYPE Graduate Research Seminar · Digital Heritage · Laser Scanning · Architectural Representation · Spring 2018
INSTITUTION University of Pennsylvania
ROLE Graduate Architecture Student
COURSE ARCH-712-401 · Baroque Parameters Seminar
PROGRAM Big Data · Point Clouds · Laser Scanning · Digital Heritage
CRITIC Andrew Saunders
SURVEY DATA Provided by Andrew Saunders
Rome, Italy · Spring 2018
PROJECT TYPE Graduate Research Seminar · Digital Heritage · Laser Scanning · Architectural Representation · Spring 2018
INSTITUTION University of Pennsylvania
ROLE Graduate Architecture Student
COURSE ARCH-712-401 · Baroque Parameters Seminar
PROGRAM Big Data · Point Clouds · Laser Scanning · Digital Heritage
CRITIC Andrew Saunders
SURVEY DATA Provided by Andrew Saunders
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Baroque Topologies examines Santa Maria in Campitelli through laser scanning, point-cloud analysis, and computational representation. Working from survey data provided by Andrew Saunders, the research compares Carlo Rainaldi’s built geometry with archival drawings and established interpretations of Baroque space.
Point-cloud data enabled precise analysis of spatial, sectional, and ornamental relationships beyond conventional documentation. The study generated a sectional drawing directly from surveyed data before extending the process into speculative transformations of the church’s geometry.
Moving between measured evidence, historical scholarship, and digital mutation, the project demonstrates how survey technologies can reveal new readings of architectural heritage while expanding representation from documentation into critical inquiry.
Baroque Topologies examines Santa Maria in Campitelli through laser scanning, point-cloud analysis, and computational representation. Working from survey data provided by Andrew Saunders, the research compares Carlo Rainaldi’s built geometry with archival drawings and established interpretations of Baroque space.
Point-cloud data enabled precise analysis of spatial, sectional, and ornamental relationships beyond conventional documentation. The study generated a sectional drawing directly from surveyed data before extending the process into speculative transformations of the church’s geometry.
Moving between measured evidence, historical scholarship, and digital mutation, the project demonstrates how survey technologies can reveal new readings of architectural heritage while expanding representation from documentation into critical inquiry.
MEASURED EVIDENCE + SPECULATIVE TRANSFORMATION
The point cloud operates as more than a record of the church. Surveyed geometry establishes a precise field of evidence from which new sectional, spatial, and ornamental relationships can be extracted.
As that measured information is transformed, documentation becomes design material. The project moves deliberately between recording what exists and constructing alternative readings of it.
The point cloud operates as more than a record of the church. Surveyed geometry establishes a precise field of evidence from which new sectional, spatial, and ornamental relationships can be extracted.
As that measured information is transformed, documentation becomes design material. The project moves deliberately between recording what exists and constructing alternative readings of it.
Measurement does not end interpretation. It becomes the beginning of another one.