Decision-making, sketching, lasers and drones. The system for documenting the Bell Towers in the province of Burgos

Resumen

The “new” technologies we regularly use for teaching are now combined with those enabling data capture of buildings, thus obtaining extremely accurate and liable models. Due to its precision, the virtual model might eventually replace the real structure as study model. Some of the these technologies include three-dimensional laser scanners, digital photogrammetry programmes, or even drones. Thanks to the access to these technological resources (some are free software and most of them are available in the EGA departments), and the skills acquired through graphic training for analyzing and depicting architecture, we obtain a more complete and complex set of documentation. These resources are specially useful for studying structures like bell towers, which aren’t very big, but indeed complex, due to their elements and construction systems: load-bearing walls, arches, vaults, floor slabs, frameworks, as well as ornaments. As a result of the systematization of the graphic documentation process, the working team requires just two people to carry out the task. However, the most important issue here is to understand and depict the structures and to have a certain knowledge of the new data capture resources currently available. The study of bell towers, aimed at documenting this extraordinary structures, enables both the understanding of such constructions and also the design of an “exportable” working methodology intended to enrich the students’ competences. Another important aspect of our study on bell towers was the use of sketching as the graphic tool of thought. Sketching is an essential means of analyzing and thoroughly knowing the composition and architectonic elements which need to be synthesized in the final product.