Guidelines for a digital reinterpretation of architectural restoration work: Reality-based models and reverse modelling techniques applied to the architectural decoration of the teatro marittimo, villa adriana

Abstract

The Maritime Theatre is one of the iconic buildings of Hadrian's Villa, Tivoli. The state of conservation of the theatre is not only the result of weathering over time, but also due to restoration work carried out during the Fifties of the past century. Although this anastylosis process had the virtue of partially restoring a few of the fragments of the compound's original image, it now reveals diverse inconsistencies and genuine errors in the reassembling of the fragments. This study aims at carrying out a digital reinterpretation of the restoration of the architectural fragments in relation to the architectural order, with particular reference to the miscellaneous decoration of the frieze of the Teatro Marittimo (vestibule and atrium). Over the course of the last few years the Teatro Marittimo has been the target of numerous surveying campaigns using digital methodology (laser scanner and photogrammetry SfM/MVS). Starting with the study of the remains of the opus caementicium on the ground, it is possible to identify surfaces which are then used in the model for subsequent cross sections, so as to achieve the best fitting circumferences to use as reference points to put the fragments back into place.