This study adopts a holistic approach to documenting, analysing, and preserving the & Ccedil;elbira Grape Processing Area, a significant part of Mardin's heritage sites. The methodology of the study consists of four stages of literature review, fieldwork, flow analysis, and evaluation of the data obtained. A three-dimensional digital model of an area of approximately 1700 m2 was produced using an iPad Pro LiDAR sensor, and comparative measurements taken on site achieved an accuracy level of less than 1 cm. The findings of the study revealed that the grape processing site was developed with a sophisticated engineering approach to adapt to the slope and terrain conditions. However, today, the neglected and unconserved condition of the channels, distilleries, and cisterns of the & Ccedil;elbira indicates that the heritage is under the threat of extinction. The study emphasises that digital technologies are powerful tools for documenting, preserving, and analysing historical buildings.
In the context of the macro theme of the conservation and exhibition of digital heritage - certified by the 2003 UNESCO Charter -, and specifically of the interdisciplinary studies on the shaping of the Virtual Museum idea - from the historic Virtual Museum commissioned by the Guggenheim Foundation in '99 to Asymptote studio, up to Saul Kim's recent Flappy Box -, we present three new parametric spaces shaped by AI that extend the Virtual Museum of Ephemeral Architecture (VMEA) project that we initiated ten years ago. The research experiments with the integrated use of different representation technocultures, testing an elaborative process that combines AI (from idea to code) with parametric modeling, with the aim of shaping habitable digital spatialities in the Virtual Museum. The essay illustrates the working method tested to shape the geometry of three new exhibition spaces of the VMEA: Randomisation; Helicoidal Structure; Strange Attractor.
The replication of ancient paintings involves significant challenges, especially when considering that modern viewing conditions differ greatly from their original settings. This contribution presents the results of a digital acquisition campaign focusing on three historically significant paintings: two works by Ludovico Mazzolino from Le Gallerie degli Uffizi and Titian's "Portrait of Alfonso I d'Este" from Palazzo Pitti in Florence. As part of the DarkScape Experience (DSE) research project, this work aims to digitally reconstruct the paintings to relocate them in a virtual representation of their context at Villa d'Este, in Tivoli, to simulate original viewing conditions regarding daytime and nighttime illumination as documented in historical sources. The integrated process presented produced three-dimensional models replicating the visual aspects, the characteristics, and the materials of the real artworks, through multilayered textures and 3D meshes including both painted wood panels or canvases and their frames.
In the current context of digital transformation, the MATHE method proposes a phygital strategy for the conservation, documentation and dissemination of architectural heritage. Tested on the Optical Telegraph Line between Madrid and Valencia, this integrated system combines Web-GIS, Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) in a coherent heritage valorisation proposal. The MATHE-GIS platform organises georeferenced and alphanumeric data in an accessible, open format, while MATHE-AR and MATHE-VR tools extend the heritage experience beyond physical boundaries. These technologies provide a hybrid, both on-site and off-site, experience that enhances users' understanding of cultural assets. It concludes that virtualisation, far from replacing the heritage object, constitutes a strategic avenue for its study, interpretation and dissemination, enabling more democratic, participatory and sustainable access.
Digital technologies can significantly support flood risk assessment and mitigation in Historic Urban Built Environments (HUBEs). Simulation tools can manage such complex disaster scenarios and provide useful analysis on human behaviors and evacuation strategies impact, especially when structural measures fail. This study proposes a multi-step and multi-scale tool, integrating hydrodynamic and evacuation simulations in flood-prone HUBEs, to (1) evaluate how excluding or including human behavior affect risk levels, and then (2) how emergency plan can be optimized, by testing different route choice strategies, to improve human safety. The tool combines microscopic and macroscopic models and is applied to typological HUBEs. Final comparisons with a consolidated model contribute to the tool verification, highlighting how the tool (and its single simulation components) can support decision makers in the analysis of multiple scenario and strategies conditions.
