Modeling for knowledge and design

Abstract

The contribution first presents the case study of Palazzo Belimbau in Genoa, adopted for the experimentation at an architectural scale of the PRIN-2017 research program "HPFC - Historic Preservation Foundation Classes", by the Research Units of Genoa and the Politecnico di Milano. The introduction will clarify the reasons for its choice, leaving the illustration of the activities conducted on it to other contributions to the magazine. This introduction is followed by a methodological and theoretical part aimed at highlighting some problematic issues met in conducting the field experiments. The mere application of informatics tools, in fact, cannot divert our attention from the ultimate goals of our research actions, to prevent the means from taking precedence over the ends. With reference to the extensive existing literature on the use of BIM, H-BIM, or GIS technologies for the management of historical buildings, the contribution therefore addresses some apparently terminological issues, but which are not like this. At the centre of attention are the recurring, or still-debated, meanings of terms such as model, modelling, knowledge, information and data, ontologies, taxonomies, glossaries, thesauri, and related terms. This aims to outline a rigorous and critical framework for the continuation of the research activities within the tendential opposition between “Holism” and “Reductionism” as a recurrent and fundamental mental and operational attitude.