101 
SURFACE SPATIAL ANALYSIS IN ARCHITECTURAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY: 
DIGITAL AND ANALYTICAL PROCEDURES 
Raffaella BOLOGNA, Maurizio MINCHILLI 
Dipartimento di Architettura ed Urbanistica 
Politecnico di Bari 
Via E. Orabona 4, 70125 Bari (ITALY) 
minchilli@dau02.poliba.it 
raf@dau02.poliba.it 
Commission VI, Working Group 3 
KEYWORDS: Analytical and digital photogrammetry, Architecture, Archaeology, Cultural_Heritage 
ABSTRACT 
The paper reports on some spatial analysis of ribbed vaults in Salento: the cloisters of Olivetani Monastery in 
Lecce and of townhall in Manduria (Taranto). The ribbed vaults typical of Salento province (at the Est end of 
Italy) are of great interest for architects for their variety and diversity in forms and assembling techniques. 
These are some of numerous examples of photogrammetric analytical and digital spatial analysis worked out 
in the last years. The tecniques of automatic image matching has demonstrated his own ripeness in 
precision spatial correlation in conjunction with high digital images resolution. The metric photographs, 
acquired with a 1400 dpi flatbed scanner, have been used to digital restitution, automatic D.E.M. generation 
and orthoprojection in 1:10 scale of representation. 
The surface analysis of the archaeological excavation, in the three naves of the Crociati hospital in Molfetta 
(Bari) was carried out in 1997 and 1998 during the restoration works of the whole historical building. The 
photogrammetric survey was justified by the need of detailed recording of the stratigraphy bottom and to 
preserve the future reading of the pillars and walls foundations. Graphical restitution and the construction of 
Digital Elevation Model were made by an analytical stereoplotter; the digital photographs were ortho projected 
onto the numeric grid and then assembled together. This kind of representation is well appreciated by the 
architects, for the restoration design, and by the historians for the immediateness of architectural reading. 
1. MASONRY VAULTS IN THE LECCE 
PROVINCE 
1.1 Typology and construction 
The vault roofing, built of freestone, materialises the 
architectural space through the correct shaping of 
stone ashlars and the subsequent spatial collocation 
in structurally determined positions . 
Nowadays in the Lecce province ( Salent is the 
eastern portion of Italian peninsula ) the diffusion of 
this structural typology in the historical buildings is 
very high, with unchanged typological and 
constructive characters, a sensible quantity of 
dwelling rooms are constructed by craftsmen with 
natural stone. Considering how big is the incidence 
of manpower, in these small building yards, it’s easy 
to conclude that there is an enormous interest for 
architectural spaces strongly characterised by the 
construction material: even with a notable reduction 
of usability and functionality of such dwellings. 
Those who have built and, still build, such types of 
roofing ignore the theoretical principles of 
construction science and our craftsmen did not 
investigate the causes that bring to vaults instability 
but simply observed the effects of instability on the 
same vaults. 
The subsoil of Puglia is mostly made of calcarenite 
with surface layers of marine sediments result of 
orogenic cycles. Apulian tufa and the leccese stone 
belong to this category and are easy to carve with 
simple tools. Being easy to model, this material is 
suitable for constructions with ashlars of complex 
shape both for vaults and arches. In several cases 
the extraction of ashlars occurred directly in the 
building yard, allowing to avoid the costs of 
basement excavation and building materials 
transport. 
1.2 Shape study 
The analysis of an object with a complex shape, as 
that of the described architectures, requires 
measure methodologies of medium-high accuracy 
and easy applicability to various spaces and 
volumes. Photogrammetic methods are suitable for 
this kind of application, for their rapidity in the 
execution of in situ operations, high accuracy and, 
for what concerns digital photogrammetry, the 
possibility of automatic image matching in an 
oriented stereoscopic model. 
The aim, not only practical, of the present study was 
mainly to provide: