Interactive virtual representation of the disappeared convent of El Carmen (Logroño) generated from a paper craft model

Abstract

The concept of mock-up, which share with the drawing the expressive synthesis for the analysis of the form and architectural evolution, is an invaluable asset for the preservation of the heritage. On the occasion of the 175 th anniversary of the Praxedes Mateo Sagasta’s secondary school of Logrono (Spain) an exhibition about the history of the institution was organized at the premises of the Library of La Rioja. The current school building became operational in 1900 and was built on the former site of a Carmelite convent. It is noted that the existing rooms of the convent were the first location for the school, after the expropriations of religious communities during the mid-nineteen century. For the benefit of the aforementioned exhibition, it was deemed interesting to generate a three-dimensional (3D) virtual reconstruction of the buildings of the convent to show how it would have looked. However, the scarcity of the contemporary graphic information was a challenge, so it was decided to generate the virtual reconstruction from a paper craft model created by the librarian of the secondary school as a result of his research on this matter during the last years. This text describes the 3D modelling of that cut-out element by means of monoscopic photogrammetry (perspective drawing) and the use of non-realistic rendering based on the appearance of the paper mock-up (and not trying to recreate the real image of the buildings) so as to provide a suggestive view of the convent and create interactive exhibition items. Moreover, the text deals with the long-term preservation and the improvement of the re-use of the 3D models. The former by resorting to institutional repositories —from which users can download the full detailed versions— and the latter employing versions able to be visualized in 3D warehouses (such as Sketchfab ) and augmented reality (AR) applications.