Abstract :
This paper concerns the intelligent use of information technology in an interdisciplinary team, which is working on architectural project development and industrial manufacturing, and illustrates in a case study an innovative solution for the recovery of landscapes altered by extensive quarrying. The following project regards an abandoned stone quarry in Verona, Italy. Its initial planning phase for an adaptive reuse of the existing cavities departs from the creative application of digital techniques in architectural design. Of particular interest is however the collaborative development phase of the project empowered by the implementation of an extensive knowledge network, which by testing unexplored territories, promises new applications to the natural stone industry. The fluid integration between design and fabrication, a kind of "file to factory" operation, permits the manufacturing of complex natural stone surfaces and the development of a project detail mock-up. The digital techniques of the formfinding process foster the realization of a hybrid figure between architecture and landscape, which, by way of its formal and material presence, smoothly integrates into its natural environment and interprets with a new sustainable methodology the redevelopment of the fractured landscape
Keywords :
CAD/CAM; architectural CAD; computer animation; construction industry; quarrying industry; solid modelling; abandoned stone quarry; architectural design; architectural project development; collaborative development phase; complex natural stone surface manufacturing; digital formfinding process; extensive knowledge network; fluid integration; industrial manufacturing; information technology; landscape recovery; natural stone industry; project detail mock-up development;