L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JUNE 9, 2016 www.italoamericano.org 3 Continued from page 2 The first two responded to my interest in getting inside the build- ings and not just looking at them as blueprints. Using 3D model, allows you to get the sense of what is like to go from the sunny exterior to the shady interior. As Plutarch stated, "the city is a living thing", meaning that it's constantly evolving, so we cannot look at a snapshot of a city, at a particular date in time. Karnak was always shown in textbooks as a huge architectonic complex in ancient Egypt. Thanks to our Digital Karnak, we docu- mented its evolution and stratifi- cation over almost two millennia. The Digital Roman Forum responded to the exact same prin- ciple. We wanted to populate our model with sounds and lights. Back then, day light played such an essential role in assigning the best spots to the speakers and lec- turers. You could really feel your- self immersed in another reality. Both of these projects tended to be more Hyper realistic. Currently, I'm doing some research on the city of Rome, in the Augustan period. Accordingly to the sources we have, Emperor Augustus was the one, who turned a city of wood into one of marble. I'm trying to assess the distribution of marble structures, by employing procedural model- ing. Please, explain us the multi- year research and teaching pro- ject, HyperCities. HyperCities was carried on by a large team, led by Todd Presner. The idea was to create a platform, in which people could interrogate digital models, on a geo-temporal dimension. For instance, with a 3D model, you could see the evolution of a place over time, the shift in light- ing during the day, as well as have photographs and text attached to it. In that way, you are able to bring the argument into the three dimensional space. Now, it has turned into an open source project. However, it has lost some of its functionality, due to the change in online browsers. Aside from lots of insightful academic publications, you published two books, "Streets: Critical Perspectives on Public Space" (1994) and "The Urban Image of Augustan Rome" (1998). Sum up for us the essence of those two works. The first book tried to look at streets as a phenomenon, through a temporal and worldwide per- spective. It's a collection of essays, which I co-edited. The chapter I wrote, deals with Roman Triumph, particularly how it was organized and where the soldiers marched through. It was an early examination of what was it like to be in a historic place. The second one drew on con- temporary research and it deals with the relation between the mental image of the city with the equivalent physical image. The book starts with a fictional char- acter walking through Rome, in 50 BC and ends with the same man, now very old, who sees the urbanistic differences occurred over the span of a lifetime. Those changes brought about reverbera- tions on peoples' minds, as it appears evident in literature and visual representations. You're very active in Turkey, as architectural consul- tant on Turkish excavations, as well as editor of the Turkish Journal, "Seleucia." What fasci- nates you about this country? First of all, my husband is Turkish, so, obviously, I feel con- nected to Turkey. On a scholar point of view, ancient Roman remains in this country are spectacular and far better preserved than the ones in Rome, itself. In Turkey, you really get a sense of how the ancient cities looked like. In Italy, you need to go to Pompeii, or Ostia to experi- ence the same. My husband and I have just finished to write a textbook on Roman architecture, which shows how strong were the ties between the region of Turkey and Rome, the Empire's "epicenter." We are also trying to foster more cultural exchanges in the architectural field, because many scholars, spe- cialized in Roman times, have never been in Turkey. What do you think about Los Angeles and its dispersive quality? What could be done to create more assembly areas? Los Angeles is so spread out and so diffuse mentally, that you need to have events like the reju- venation of the Los Angeles River to bring people together. Mobile events, specifically parades, that could be even virtu- al, through social media, are able to mobilize crowds. Recently, the transportation of a space shuttle tank throughout the city, at night, gathered people together, likewise occurred a cou- ple of years ago, with the trans- portation of the levitated mass to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). Everything, which compels you to move out of your neigh- borhood and walk through the city, would be much needed. Among your many recogni- tions, in 2014, you were selected as resident at the American Academy in Rome. Tell us more about this honor. I've been given a wonderful working space, with annexed gar- den, which really is the perfect setting for my Roman studies. The aspect, which really fasci- nates me, about the American Academy is that it gives scholar- ships to people in different stages of their careers, but also assigns residencies to scholars from dif- ferent fields, along with artists. Sharing a meal and a chat with people from such diverse back- grounds is so energizing and stim- ulating. How many times have you been to Rome and what impressed you the most? Are you planning another trip in the near future? An infinite number of times. The first time I went to the American Academy in Rome was around 1980. Aside from my intellectual interest in the city, I love its atmosphere and its peo- ple. Rome is a living city, it's mak- ing history, while incorporating the past. It didn't transform com- pletely in a modern city, although it's still progressing in a vibrant way. I'm leaving very soon to Rome, to attend at the presidential council at the Academy. Augustan Rome model by Architect Diane Favro. Photo Courtesy of D. Favro

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