On the relevance of 3D shapes for use as interfaces to architectural heritage data

Résumé En

Documentation analysis and organisation are vital to the researcher when trying to understand architectural evolutions. Documentation provides partial evidences, from which the researcher will infer possible scenarios on how an edifice or site may have evolved throughout the centuries. It provides clues that will need an interpretation from the researcher or conservator in order to understand the edifice or site's evolution. In this process, data interpretation is a critical step that base on the use 3D theoretical concepts originating from those who study edifices: architects, archaeologists, conservators, historians. What solutions can one base on in order to organise documentation with regards to an architectural analysis of its content? How can we today provide architects, conservators or collection holders with a set of relevant architectural concepts that will serve as intermediates between the edifice's shape and its documentary sources?Our contribution introduces a methodological proposition that tries to cope with those questions, and evaluates possible uses of 3D scenes as interfaces for architectural heritage data visualisation. We describe the relations between documentation and architectural objects, and use the representation of 3D objects in order to access information but also to visualise the state of knowledge of each object.