Digital techniques to engineer and build a large sculpture in heritage public space

Planning and realising a large sculpture in a heritage public space requires succeeding in diverse, sometimes contrasting, multidisciplinary objectives. This paper reports on a research project developed to support the communication, engineering and construction of a permanent sculptural masterpiece within the public historic centre of Rome. While the entire process of creating the art piece is explained, the main emphasis is on the experimental application of various technologies such as Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), Laser Scanning, Virtual Reality (VR), Parametric Modelling and Numerical Simulations. These technologies were utilised due to the size of the sculpture and the peculiarities of the context. The primary focus of this study is to develop and implement a workflow that can enhance collaboration and efficiency among stakeholders like artists, clients, engineers, urbanists, archaeologists, art foundry fabricators, and public authorities. The project adopted an action research methodology because of its strategic ability to connect experimentation and practice in order to address a realistic cross-disciplinary problem in its actual context.