How to Communicate Complex Spatial Itineraries: A balancing act between diagram and simulation

Abstract

This paper shows our method of visually conveying the intricate pathway system of the unique amphitheatre in Durrës, Albania, in a way that allows visitors to experience the spatial implications for the ancient world. In the firm conviction as architects that architecture can best be understood when it is experienced, but that a destroyed building can no longer be witnessed, we have elaborated a method that does justice to this circumstance. In the communication of archaeological knowledge, the combination of find drawing, schematic illustration and descriptive text is often relied upon. Recently, perspective computer-generated drawings have entered the picture. What remains unresolved, is the perception of space as a process. Technology has not yet reached the point where a virtual world that deceives all the senses could simulate actual spatial perception. And so here, as in perspective composition, it is necessary to compensate for the actual perception of space by means of targeted image guidance by the film camera in such a way that a plausible impression of space is created. In addition to the composition criteria of point of view and angle of view, from which the focal length then arises, as well as the tilt-shift lenses for the compensation of the sense of balance, that is, that the recognition of the vertical is reproduced exactly in the image, and finally image framing, dynamic criteria are added. These are first and foremost the speed of movement, which has a considerable influence on the perception of the dimension, above all the length of the path travelled, but also the speed of rotation during changes of direction and, and here it becomes particularly demanding, the rotation as well as its speed before, during and after changes of direction, since the gaze does not run tangentially to the direction of movement, but anticipates changes of direction of the path, similar to directional headlamps in certain cars. In the end, the viewer receives a lasting impression that comes as close as possible to the archaeological hypothesis, but at the same time creates a spatial impression from an architectural point of view.