From standard to laser scanning surveying for heritage: some case studies in Enna (Italy)

Current tendency in restoration of cultural heritage cannot neglect a multidisciplinary approach, whereby the research object is simultaneously and synergistically studied by specialists from different sectors. Nowadays, the constant and rapid development of science and technology provides architectural restoration with new tools, which may be very useful in view of a responsible and conscientious conservation perspective of cultural heritage. In this field, characterized by a rich variety of methodological and operational opportunities, survey plays a key role. Actually, the continuous improvement of acquisition, processing and graphics rendering techniques, offers an increasing support to the restoration discipline, both in terms of understanding of monuments, than in the evaluation of project choices . The working method, once set on a serial logic (first the surveying then the project) today follows a parallel and coordinated logic in which, also thanks to new BIM technologies, in real time, are simultaneously handled the geometric modelling, the structural and technological analysis and, more generally, all information concerning the whole building characteristics. The use of measuring instruments based on structured light system has also revolutionized the restoration field, because, in addition to ensuring rapid and complete measurability of architectural objects, data processing allows to produce detailed analysis of structural instabilities and degradation processes. This paper intends to document the experience carried out in the framework of the course of Architectural Restoration of the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture of Enna (Italy), in which the standard surveying technique for architectural restoration, has been flanked by an experiment carried out with a laser scanner, combined with a new point cloud tool.