Interactive virtual representation of the disappeared convent of El Carmen (Logroño) generated from a paper craft model

Abstract

<p class="VARAbstract">The concept of mock-up, which share with the drawing the expressive synthesis for the analysis of the architectural form and evolution, is an invaluable asset for the preservation of the heritage. To mark the 175^th anniversary of the Práxedes Mateo Sagasta’s secondary school of Logroño (Spain), an exhibition about the history of the institution was organized at the premises of La Rioja Library. The current school building became operational in 1900 and was built on the former site of a Carmelite convent. In fact, the convent rooms were the first location for the school, after the expropriations of religious communities during the mid-19th century. For the benefit of the aforementioned exhibition, it was considered interesting to generate a three-dimensional (3D) virtual reconstruction of the convent buildings to show how it would have looked. However, the lack of sufficient contemporary graphic information was a challenge, so it was decided that an efficient solution would be to generate the virtual reconstruction from a paper craft model, which had been created by the librarian of the secondary school as a result of his research on this matter. This text describes the 3D modelling of that cut-out element by means of monoscopic photogrammetry (perspective drawing) and the use of non-realistic rendering based on the appearance of the paper mock-up (and not trying to recreate the real image of the buildings) so as to provide a suggestive view of the convent and create interactive exhibition items. Moreover, the text deals with the long-term preservation and the improvement of the re-use of the 3D models. The former by resorting to institutional repositories —from which users can download the full detailed versions— and the latter employing versions able to be visualized in 3D warehouses (such as Sketchfab) and augmented reality (AR) applications.</p><p><strong>Highlights:</strong></p><ul><li><p>A significant part of the architectural heritage is represented by mock-ups of different materials (paper, wood, metal and so on).</p></li><li><p>Virtual modelling and augmented reality (AR) can be appropriate tools for materializing, recovering and disseminating scale models to the public.</p></li><li><p>Techniques for geometric documentation and visual representation need to be adapted in order to tackle the peculiar features of these elements (size, materials, fragility, etc.).</p></li></ul>