Design Analysis: Research experiences from Alexandrian manuals to Imperial Architecture

Over the last 10 years, an international multidisciplinary research group formed by the Department of Architecture of the University of Bologna, the Instituto Universitario de Restauración del Patrimonio (IRP) of the UPV and the direction of Villa Adriana and Villa d’Este Institute, has carried out a series of surveys and analyses on well-known buildings at the Hadrian’s Villa. The paper summarises the results of these studies, that besides documentation, are focused on the interpretation of ancient texts related to the field of architectural design. This research has led to the development of a method for the study and dissemination of ancient design combining a technological component (acquisition with laser scanning and photogrammetric devices), a philological one (integration of theoretical and technical ancient literature), and finally the elaboration of 2D/3D synthesis models capable of expressing and summarising the design steps in a scientific output (from point clouds to 3D digital polygonal models).