Architecture and structure in the Italian school of engineering. redrawing and 3d printing for Construction History

Italy between 1950s and 1970s was a unique stage for a trans-disciplinary collaboration between architecture and engineering. What of “architecture” can be traced in the original languages of the Italian School of Engineering? And what of “structural conception” can be traced in the original languages of Italian post-war architecture? This contribution faces the subject through the story of some material investigations conducted on a selection of significant "structural architectures", carried out between 1945 and 1980, but especially through the evolution of the pioneering tools of investigation introduced by Sergio Poretti for the study of 20th century architecture: the "reconstructive redrawing" - which from the axonometric cross-section, made with the 2D Cad, developed it self in the 3D virtual model and in 3D printed models, embodies a fundamental tool of knowledge for the analysis of the relationship between form and structure. The contribution is part of the SIXXI project (www.sixxi.eu), within the SIXXI3DLab research unit