Virtual world modelling
project: Medieval Warfare on the Grid: The Case of Manzikert
Grant Holder: Professor Vince Gaffney
The Medieval Warfare on the Grid project (MWGrid) employs e-science methods and tools to support historical research into logistics of medieval war. The battle of Manzikert (modern Malazgirt, Turkey) in 1071, between the Byzantine Empire and the Seljuk Turks, is the subject of this investigation. This key event, which paved the way for Turkish settlement in eastern Anatolia, has been previously studied through comparative historical analysis. However, due to limited sources and the lack of comprehensive analytical methods, its logistics remain a subject of speculation. [read more]
project: First World War Poetry Digital Archive
Grant Holder:
The First World War Poetry Digital Archive is an online repository of over 7000 items of text, images, audio, and video for teaching, learning, and research.
The heart of the archive consists of collections of highly valued primary material from major poets of the period, including Wilfred Owen, Isaac Rosenberg, Robert Graves, Vera Brittain, and Edward Thomas. This is supplemented by a comprehensive range of multimedia artefacts from the Imperial War Museum, a separate archive of over 6,500 items contributed by the general public, and a set of specially developed educational resources. [read more]
project: The body and mask in ancient theatre space
Grant Holder: Professor Richard Beacham
The project applies advanced 3 dimensional technologies to study the practice of ancient mask theatre. It produces 3D scans of Greek and Roman mask miniatures relating both to comedy and tragedy, and reproduces them at life-size by rapid prototyping. [read more]
project: Virtual Reconstruction of Palladio’s Teatro Olimpico
Grant Holder:
The Teatro Olimpico at Vicenza, Italy - still existent and well preserved - was built in 1580-85 for the local Accademia Olimpica (founded in 1556) on a plot provided by the city council. It was the first permanent theatre to be built in Europe since antiquity. The stage, which resembles a façade of a Renaissance palace, and the semi-oval sitting area were designed by the architect and founding member of the Accademia, Andrea Palladio (1508-80). He died soon after the work began; his son, Silla took over. [read more]
project: Virtual Recreation of Palladio’s Villa Rotonda
Grant Holder:
The Villa Rotonda, also known as Villa Capra or Villa Almerico-Valmarana, is one of the best known works by the Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio (1508-80). It was built just outside Vicenza, Italy, in the countryside, as a retirement residence for the clergyman at the Vatican, Paolo Almerico. The work began in c. 1565/6. Although the villa was inhabited by 1569 it was still unfinished by the time of Almerico’s death in 1589. [read more]
project: 3D Reconstruction of the Unbuilt Project Pont destiné à réunir la France à l’Italie (1829) by Henri Labrouste
Grant Holder:
Henri Labrouste (1801-75) is best known as the architect of two important public buildings in Paris, both libraries. The Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, completed in 1851, demonstrated Labrouste's unconventional use of classical elements, much disputed at the time, and his structural innovation of introducing an exposed iron frame. The Bibliothèque Nationale, completed in the year of his death, is renowned for its eclectic reading room reminiscent of a Seljuk mosque: a light, top-lit round space with slender cast-iron columns, which support a multitude of small domes. [read more]
project: The Medieval Palace of Westminster Research Project
Grant Holder: Professor Richard Beacham
Overview of the Project. The Westminster Palace Research Project is an inter-disciplinary study, combining archaeology, history, architectural history, and new uses of information technology. Its aim is to produce a comprehensive architectural study of the medieval palace and its place in the broader context of historic palaces. Equally important is the fact that the innovative techniques to be used will be transferable to the study of other historic buildings, and thus the project has implications beyond Westminster.
Research Objectives of the Pilot Project. [read more]