The reconstruction of an Image. The experiences of Quaroni and Piacentini in Basilicata

The study about “the modern” architecture of Basilicata is an interesting field of research. Most of these architectures have yet to be completed or during the centuries, they had been object of several transformations because of no one recognized their formal value. In this way starting from the analysis of existent traces and from the info of archive documents, the use of virtual models allowed to restore and relive the architectonic experiences of the early1900s. Project Ophelia is an example in Potenza (Basilicata). In Potenza, in an area now heavily urbanized, there is an ambitious project built in 1906, which involved the construction of a hospital for the mentally ill: it consists of several isolated pavilions and service facilities. The project, designed with the most modern urban solutions and rational use of space, has been signed by the architect Piacentini and the Eng. Quaroni, but has been never completed. The research carried out on the buildings of the «Ophelia Project» aimed at creating a database of information that can be used in the implementation of restoration of the important architectural creations of the early'900. The photographical, architectural and metric survey has been supported by the archival research. The use of the virtual model, then, has made possible to study the project never completed in its entirety. Has been done, therefore, an integrated survey in which the traditional methods of documentation has been accompanied by an experimental model using the new tools of representation.