Il letto di Procuste: forma e misura nel progetto conservativo e di restauro architettonico

For those who operate within the complex world of the process of conservation, the issue of architectural restoration can be summarized in attitudes that thrive wherever historic value is weak, or where it is more or less consciously denied: the adjustment of form or measure, that translates into the definition of the formal and dimensional terms of typological consistency and decimation of real data to conform to the requested model. The latter is a theme that, with the advent of BIM in the field of construction projects and public contracts, may produce devastating effects if not acquired with the correct degree of knowledge and awareness. The evolution of an assembly line system (conceptual and of process) of multi-scale details conformed to specialized databases constitutes an extraordinary opportunity when one has very clear ideas concerning the project, differently it subtracts awareness from the process. [Note: Procustes, ‘the racker’, was the mythical nickname of a Greek bandit who used to attack wayfarers and tie them to a bed, either to stretch them or cut their limbs, so they would t exactly into the bed. He was killed by the hero Theseus with the very same torture. Today reference to the bed of Procustes means to have very little margin for error or movement.]