Methodology for the graphic restitution of a missing building: the Casa de Armas of Valencia

• Published in: EGA : revista de expresión gráfica arquitectónica Vol. 26; no. 43; pp. 96 - 109
• Main Authors: Santiago Lillo Giner, Ángeles Rodrigo Molina, Chele Esteve Sendra
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; Spanish
• Published: Universitat Politècnica de València 01.01.2021
• Subjects: ciudadela de valencia; fuentes documentales; metodología; restitución virtual
• DOI: 10.4995/ega.2021.13797
• ISSN: 1133-6137

With the advent of current virtual restitution techniques based on technologies such as photogrammetry or laser scanning, the process of planimetric surveying has experienced an unprecedented methodological evolution, making it possible to generate information with a precision difficult to achieve using traditional techniques. These latter techniques are contingent upon the existence of physical remains allowing defining the reference geometry on the basis of which different rectification proposals can be developed. However, when lacking such physical elements serving as a reference, these current graphic restitution techniques are hardly applicable. In these cases, it is necessary to resort to a methodology based exclusively on the treatment nd analysis of written documentary sources and available graphic documentation, which makes the work unique and stands as an alternative to the architectural heritage 3D modelling traditional procedure. The present case, which involves the graphic restitution of the Citadel of Valencia, demolished in 1956, exemplifies the possibility of pursuing the graphic reconstruction of a missing building by means of using a methodology based on the treatment and analysis of graphic and written documentary sources exclusively, making it possible to recover the image of the building over time.