Examination of the Designs by Auguste Perret Using Digitally-Enabled Forensic Techniques

Abstract

This paper discusses how digitally-enabled techniques can be used to augment our understanding of a designer's work, particularly in relation to unbuilt or lost projects. In the first half of the twentieth century Auguste Perret gained international recognition for his buildings and we employ two of his unbuilt museums as the basis for illustration of the technique. Current knowledge of his unbuilt projects is based on surviving literature and incomplete illustrations. We show that the use of digitally-enabled techniques facilitates a fuller examination of the original material. Interpretation of material requires parallel studies into the architect, their influences and the context they operated within in order to extrapolate and fill gaps in an informed way. The construction of various digital representations enables a forensic analysis of the projects; consequently we can produce a richer set of information that can, in turn, enhance our analysis and understanding of an architect and their work, in this case, Perret.