Associate Professor Andrew Saunders' research, Baroque Topologies: Digital Analysis of the Latent Topological Structure of Baroque Architecture, explores how emerging technology—including high-resolution 3D digital scanning and printing—provide unprecedented access to Baroque architecture’s formal complexities, intricate detail, and deep topological structure. Professor Saunders field research in Rome and Turin, Italy documents the most significant Baroque works, will result in publication and a digital archive of his analysis, including high-resolution 3D scans and parametric models. This archive will be an extremely valuable worldwide resource for advancing contemporary teaching and research of the Italian Baroque, since no such digital archive currently exists.
Work from this project was recently on view in a traveling exhibition with stops in London, Istanbul, Sydney, and Bangalore. This research was also featured as the cover story for The Pennsylvania Gazette.
Baroque Topologies is part of the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design's Advanced Research & Innovation Lab (ARI). As part of multi-year plan to provide additional tools and facilities to support the scholarship of Weitzman faculty and students, ARI opens up vast new territories for innovation and places the School at the forefront of applied and speculative research in several domains.
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