Tactile Representations of Architecture and Painting: Geometric Reconstruction of the Church of St. Ignatius in Gorizia and Perspective Restitution of the Presbytery Fresco

Funded by Fondazione CARIGO (Cassa di Risparmio di Gorizia), the research was carried out during the XXXII cycle of the PhD Programme in Civil and Environmental Engineering and Architecture (inter-university Trieste and Udine). Tactile representation strategies to improve the perception of architecture and paintings by blind and visually impaired people were studied, including user needs, museum initiatives, Italian and international regulations. The research applied survey, drawing, 3D modelling and prototyping techniques to a case study in Gorizia: The Church of St. Ignatius and its presbytery fresco by Christoph Tausch (1673-1731). The results were a tactile map and a physical model of the church that could be extended with the architectures of the illusionist fresco. This makes the architecture of the church and the illusionistic scene created by the painted perspective accessible even to hyposensitive people.