A New Methodology to Develop Hypermedia Systems for Architecture History

This paper illustrates a research project concerning the analysis of architectural works through a comparative study based on hypermedia tools, by exploring the hypermedia, users can find the main subjects relative to the “method“ of architectural planning. The use of multimedia in architecture allows the integration in a single system of different types of information which are necessary for the description of a work. texts, designs, photos and sounds. In addition, the hypertext information structure allows the direct intervention on analyzed projects, by pointing out the more important themes and their relationships. Users have the opportunity to immerse themselves in hypermedia and choose the subject to navigate through on each occasion. Our research project aims at developing a prototype concerning two architects. I.L.Kahn and F.L. Wright. The development methodology is based on the key role played by the components of architectonic works, thus allowing users to compare them in a simple and correct way. The methodology used in this work can be extended to other architects or periods, by simply changing the possibility of navigation, i.e. by changing the reading keys