LA MODELLAZIONE TRIDIMENSIONALE DIGITALE FRA DISEGNO E PROGETTO DI ARCHITETTURA: ESPERIENZE DI RICERCA E DIDATTICA

In the last years “digital revolution” not only has burst on the world of representation and transmission of design thinking but also has influenced the whole process of architectural project starting from the idea conception to the building construction. Overcome the first less interesting tries to use digital representation tools for replacing traditional methods and techniques of design drafting, researchers and designers turned their attention to the new capabilities offered by 3D digital modelling. Some new tools of 3D modelling have today approached the terms of drawing and design, leading them again to the etymological root, the Latin verb designo (which meant both to draw and to design). 3D digital modelling appears like the focus around which the main new digital trends of design research converge. In particular 3D digital modelling: o shows many surplus values in the field of parametric modelling, which go from architectural shaping to building construction; o constitutes a new powerful tool in concept of dynamic architecture, thanks to the introduction of the fourth dimension into the traditionally static representation methods; o represents the basis for interactive simulations useful both in procedures of participatory design and in videogames aimed to didactics of architecture; o allows to produce in scale plastic models, applying rapid prototyping technologies, and real building elements, applying CAD-CAM technologies. These themes involve academy and profession being central in the interests of researchers, students and designers. For this reason theoretical and critical contents of 3D digital modelling as well as knowledge of software and procedures hold a primary importance inside the different teachings of Representation which constitute the students’ curricula of the University 1st degree of Architecture Sciences (Politecnico di Torino). In this paper some results of this didactic activity are presented with particular reference to the final Bachelor in Architecture Science essay, in which some of the topics seen above have been developed by original researches carried out under my supervision.