GEOMATIC TRAINING EXPERIENCES FOR A HIGH VULNERABILITY CULTURAL HERITAGE ITEM.

A. Span, E. Costamagna*
*

DINSE, II Facolt di Architettura, viale Mattioli 39 10125 Torino - antonia.spano,erik.costamagna@polito.it

KEY WORDS: digital photogrammetry, LIDAR, database map, GIS, CH vulnerability ABSTRACT The plan of Architectural documentation is the basic platform on which the CH protection and development process is founded; it embraces the historical analysis, the metric survey and the graphical representation of the object. It covers a primary importance in order to achieve very many objects: the comprehension of cultural values through the study of historical sources; the morphological and geometrical data collection and interpretation for the object representation. The latter is the frame on which we can organize the diagnostic tests, build the restoration plan and the communication and dissemination of his cultural values. The achievement of the know how in the field of the architectural and environmental survey is an important part of the curriculum in faculties of Architecture. The basic courses in this field of study (an integrated course named Topography/Metric Survey/IT and the course of Photogrammetry) approach to the main methods and the modern techniques of metric survey and at the same time the students will be provided of the basic knowledge for the critical analysis of the historical handiworks in the different scales, from the territorial to the architectural one. In the area of the optional courses, the educational program widen to involve all data capture methodologies, including the LIDAR techniques, and systems of 3D survey data management and integration. Modern spatial data products, such as DEM and vector surface models, are used for the final rendering, where both the 2D and 3D element will be integrated. It will be also introduced the GIS environment for the storage and management of spatial information at the territorial and architectural scales. In this paper we are going to present several experiences employed during two courses of the Faculty of Architecture (Applied Photogrammetry and Digital Photogrammetry/3D scanning for CH survey, the last managed by CISDA Architecture Interdepartmental Teaching Services Centre)*. In this training experiences the methodological contents of disciplines have been exploited to obtain the documentation of a cultural item, featured by a high risk of extinction: the decorated gypsum ceilings of the southern Piedmont. decorated panel which is an integral part of the wooden framework. As the wooden plank floors, the gypsum panel suffer the structure and overhanging weights. The construction scheme, as the wooden plank floor, consists of a principal framework made of big wooden beams placed at the approximate distance of 2 meters on which leans the secondary frame made of joists, usually one every half a meter. The wooden mould employed for the cast is placed on the joists, in the space among each of them (approximately 45x180cm) On the mould's surface were carved fine decoration patterns. On this formwork were poured the gypsum mixture. The first of them were the finest in order to reproduce faithfully the carved patterns, than a cast made of coarse mixture followed; in this last mixture small chestnut, hazel branches or reeds were drown. This small wooden bars serve the function of stiffening the gypsum mixture once it has been hardened such as the steel bars in the reinforced concrete. The procedure were repeated at each wheelbase of the joists and finally a finishing cast were drown filling the gaps between each panel. At the end of the process the ceiling behaves as a single stiff plate. The thickness of the panels varies between 3/4cm to 7/8cm depending on the fact they are practicable or not. The moulds were reused many times in other ceilings of the same village and sometimes also in far apart areas; this means that the process was serial and cheap, but at the same time valuable for the aesthetic quality. The decorative patterns used in the moulds, which are the expression of the workers' hand-crafted culture, comprises naturalistic decorations such as floral motifs, religious and anthropological elements, and geometrical models.

1. INTRODUCTION: Purposes of the educational activities The integration of topographical survey techniques with the latests products of digital Photogrammetry offer the chance of easily deriving both metric and qualitative information from the images. Especially the latter is important to describe the preservation status of the cultural assets. At the same time the advances of IT allow us to treat and select the acquired informations automatically, decreasing time and difficulties during the processing phase. These modern products and their digital nature are naturally directed towards the unification of all the contributions of CH documentation in a single organized system. This is a cognitive and descriptive frame which has the common denominator of the relationship between qualitative and quantitative features, describing the cultural assets and the spatial information. Around this framework all further information relate each others. 1.1. The case study: the gypsum ceilings The gypsum ceilings are a construction type originated in different geographical zones (Piedmont, Sicily and France, i.e. areas featured by raw material's availability); they are an expression of a high level hand-crafted culture, which is mostly widespread in the plain rural houses. This traditional construction typology is apparently similar to the wooden coffered ceiling, but its peculiarity consists in the basic

A. Span is supervisor of both teachings, E. Costamagna is attending the Politecnico di Torino Phd school (Cultural Heritage) and he was student tutor; he has revised triangulation process reported in this paper.

Figure 1 a. The wholly surveyed ceiling (type E: imitation of carved doors). b. Two panels of the second surveyed ceiling (type F: single ornate pattern). c. (above) LIDAR acquisition phase. d. Students discussing about the GPS kinematic survey.

1.2. Specific survey targets in the field of CH preservation During the last century there was a continuous obliteration of this hand-crafted items due to the prejudices regarding the use of traditional building materials like gypsum and the habit of replacing the old architectural elements instead of restoring them. On the base of the actual attestations this tradition has developed in the zones of the Basso Monferrato and the Langhe-Roero in Piedmont beginning from the XVI century till the end of the XIX century, when the use of steel and reinforced concrete gradually replaced the traditional building materials. Therefore the gypsum ceilings are an interesting subject for the Architecture students, they express important artistic and technological values besides they are a vulnerable heritage. Thank to the territorial spread of this assets and to the fact they are featured by fine decorations, these ceilings are a good opportunity to test the survey methods for the large-scale 3D rendering (concerning both the patterns and deterioration) and to manage the spatial referenced data by GIS tools. The study and compilation of a census was achieved by the CIRAAS1, and the training experiences were carried out with the collaboration of the centre. So the selected easily accessible places were just the venue of the centre, located in the small village of Bagnasco in the municipality of Montafia d'Asti. The ceiling we purposed to wholly survey is the one pictured in figure n 1a, whose decoration belongs to the typology E, which reproduces the main doors decorations. Concerning the second kind of ceilings (Fig. 1b), we decide to make the 3D survey only of a small part (2-3 panels) due to the fact it was placed in a fully furnished room. It's decoration is composed by an unique motif, classified as typology F. The analysis of territorial spread of the gypsum ceilings phenomenon has been a chance for the comprehension of the relationship between the constructive typology and the land where they are located (the Messianic clay layer is largely present in the hilly zone of Monferrato and Roero, jontly with gypsum lens). Then, another educational opportunity has been the use of modern cartographic products, both raster and database maps managed in GIS.
1

Our target was to depict a rural village, where many evidences of this handiwork are present, through a 3D map generated by integration of a topographical database map (i.e the regional digital Map), the high scale cadastral map and on site acquired data. On site measured data were essentially level points information, acquired by the kinematic GPS method, and buildings facades documentation derived from rectified images. 2.THE CLOSE RANGE SURVEY OF THE CEILING PANELS 2.1. The photogrammetrical survey To the workshop students, who listened before the practise some theoretical lessons to clarify the main topics of the photogrammetrical method and its operating procedures, was suddenly clear that the decoration patterns will be hardly depicted with the traditional survey methods. The photogrammetrical survey was planned to achieve a metric accuracy corresponding to the architectural scale (1:50), but considering the short shooting distance (the ground elevation of the ceilings is about 290cm so the camera was placed on the floor in the first room and on a table in the second one, with the principal axis highwards and vertical) the resolution and the detail of the images were bigger (referring to a scale of 1:101:20 pixel dimension: 21m). The semimetric camera we used is the Rollei 6006 (c=40.37, l=60mm), and, according to the image collection plan, were taken three frames stripes (Fig. 2 a, b, c) solving the exterior orientation with the aerial triangulation. The resulting residuals both in the tiepoints and the ground control points amounted to 1cm either in xy coordinates ant the z (Tab.2). The frames orientation and the generation of the ceiling DEM from the laser scanning, allowed us to obtain an orthophoto of the entire ceiling (cfr. par. 2.2, Fig. xxx). The decorative pattern rendering was made by means of stereoscopic observation and the geometric study of the pattern which were regulated with bilateral symmetry constrains (Fig. 3). As well in the second ceiling we used a similar method and camera, instead the frame orientation was obtained by a boundle-block adjustment of a single couple of frames. In this case the decorative pattern besides the geometric shapes describe floral elements. Similarly the final rendering was obtained through the interpretation of the geometric and symmetrical relations between different parts of the pattern (Fig 4).

The CIRAAS (International centre of archaeological, anthropological and historical researches), was founded by arch. E. Fiandra, who was the inspirer of the gypsum ceilings research. The centre, employing several partner, has published many papers. The latest is [E. Fiandra et alii, 2000], but it's planned the issue of two volumes, which will present the latest research results, including the teachers' and students' survey products.

Figure 2. a. Stereoscopic photograms acquired according to three stripes. b. Planned five frames for each stripe. c. Camera has been lean on the floor with the optical main axis vertical, directed towards up.

Figure 3. Stereocopic plotting of geometrical pattern and its interpretative editing to generate a metric controlled 3D realistic model. (processing and models performed by next students: E. Chiabrera, D. Cutispoto, M. Gola, academic year 2008-2009)

Table 1. Acquisition parameters for Rollei 6006 semimetric camera

Figure 4. Similar methods processing and models performed on the type F panel (students: L. Marangoni, F. Merlo, academic year 2008-2009) Table 2. Rms of Gcp in triangulation process.

2.2 The LIDAR technique survey All the survey operations were accomplished in a single day due to the educational requirement.. The teams were organized to replace each other in the different survey operations which comprise the topographical measurement on the ground control points, the frames acquisition, the laser scanning and the roads' heights survey. The quickness and non invasive procedure of the LIDAR acquisition makes this method suitable expecially for private environment. The data capture was realized with the Riegel LMS-Z420i, a time of flight laser scanner which has a particularly wide field of view (360 around the zenith axis and 80 along the azimuthal one). According to the scan acquisition plan we took two scans in the first room, acquired with a point spacing of 0.080deg, and a single scan of the ceiling portion in the second room, with a point spacing of 0.040 deg (Fig. 5). The data pre-treatment, the scan regitration and the filtering operations were made with the Riscan PRO sw, while the the point cloud segmentation, layering and sectioning were managed with the Leica Cyclone sw (Fig 7-9). Some brief modeling exercise were executed with the purpose to render the triangulated surface.

Figure 7. Registration of two points clouds by automatic founding of reflecting targets (same of figure 6) placed in overlapping portions of scans. Fig 8. Segmentation procedings applied on both points models in order to derive dense dem to generate orthophotos. Figure 9. Thin portions of registered scans produced to generate architectural cross-section of the room and ceiling.

Figure 5. The scan positions planned for the quick survey. All processing concerning LIDAR survey have been performed by students: C. Alferi, M. Belgrano, C. Bionaz, E. Chiriotto, S. Martoglio, N. Orsini, V. Pigozzi, V. Sistri. Projected mosaic of ceiling shown in fig. 10 is by P. Abellone. Figure 6. Circular reflecting targets on second ceiling placed in order to reference photogrammetrical processings and scan data

Fig. 10. Architectural drawings of ceiling E room, derived from LIDAR survey and photogrammetrical orthoprojection.

3. 3D CARTOGRAPHY ELABORATIONS The topic of gypsum ceilings territorial spread was handled yet during the course of two I level theses. In the first of them the student organized a GIS to represent the typology distribution in the Piedmont area (Fig. 11), while the second handled the integration between the Digital Regional Map and the cadastrial map in a single built-up area to identify and represent the typology evidence and its preservation state with a GIS too (Fig. 12).

3.2. The 3D cartography The basilar principle of the building of 3D cartography is the integration of cadastrial map (available in hard copy format at the scale of 1:2000) and the Digital Regional Map (scale 1:10000). The sudents' goal was to add to this informations the results of the level points surveyed with the GPS kinematic system with the 2D information of the cadastrial map, the georeferencing in the cartographic coordinate system and to build the geometric entities framework represented by buildings and roads according to the geometric/topological rules of the topographical database (Fig. 15). In addition to these topics, instead of the simple poligons, we integrated in the GIS the 3D models of the buildings whose facedes were texturized with the rectified images to represent the typical rural housing typology (Fig. 16, 17) .

Fig 12. evidence and preservation state in the site of Bagnasco of Montafia Fig. 11, 12. Typology distribution of ceilings in Piedmont 3.1 The facades survey at the environmental scale This kind of tasks were taken at first in the base cours of applied Photogrammetry, suggesting the students to integrate topographical surveys with the image rectification of the main historical building facades (Fig. 13, 14). Fig. 15. The distribution of the level point acquired with the kinematik GPS system

Fig. 13, 14. Building facades texturizing with the rectified images

Fig. 16, 17. The results of the facades texturizing and the 3D model layering with the orthofoto map

7.

REFERENCES

Fiandra E., Borasi V., Cappellino M., 2000, I Soffitti di gesso del Basso Monferrato, Mombello. Bornaz L., Rinaudo F., 2004, Terrestrial laser scanner data Processing - XXth ISPRS Congress Istanbul. BONORA V.; SPANO' A.T., 2004, Strutture voltate: rilievo laser scanning e modellazione delle geometrie, e-Arcom - Tecnologie per comunicare l'architettura, ISBN: 88-87965-17-X