3-D Digital Modeling and Giuliano da Sangallo's Designs for Santa Maria delle Carceri in Prato

The paper introduces some studies on Santa Maria delle Carceri in Prato, one of the most representative central-plan churches of the Renaissance, which relies on a rich archival documentation made of an original drawing by Giuliano da Sangallo in the Taccuino Senese and several surveys of the today’s building. Introducing a specific methodology based on documents, reference studies and digital three-dimensional models, volumes and proportions of the church were investigated as a natural evolution of the design method followed by Giuliano. Several models have been authored, developing a described procedure, to end up with a digital reconstruction of the building as it could have been if the original idea expressed by Sangallo in the Taccuino would have been fulfilled.