The paper shows an advancement of the research that the authors have been carrying out in recent years in semantic structuring of digital architectural representations field, with a focus on the issue of uncertainty of annotations. The studies carried out in this regard have shown how the domain experts specialization determines a vision and interpretation of the same architectural object that we could define “categorized”. The interest was, then, in verifying which categories of experts have a greater degree of agreement in classifying and segmenting architectural elements, to highlight which specializations contribute the most in enriching the semantic reasoning about such forms. Aiming to broaden this reasoning, the research was deepened with annotation sessions concerning architecture examples that didn’t correspond to the classical orders rule but included wider fields of historical heritage (from sacred to fortified architecture). The aim is to verify whether the uncertainty of annotation is actually ascribable to a specific segment of the historical heritage, for example, the classical world, or whether the question is broader and as such in needs deeper thinking.
How Do Nature-Based Solutions’ Color Tones Influence People’s Emotional Reaction? An Assessment via Virtual and Augmented Reality in a Participatory Process
Simulations of urban transformations are an effective tool for engaging citizens and enhancing their understanding of urban design outcomes. Citizens’ involvement can positively contribute to foster resilience for mitigating the impact of climate change. Successful integration of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) into the urban fabric enables both the mitigation of climate hazards and positive reactions of citizens. This paper presents two case studies in a southern district of Milan (Italy), investigating the emotional reaction of citizens to existing urban greenery and designed NBS. During the events, the participants explored in Virtual Reality (VR) (n = 48) and Augmented Reality (AR) (n = 63) (i) the district in its current condition and (ii) the design project of a future transformation including NBS. The environmental exploration and the data collection took place through the exp-EIA© method, integrated into the mobile app City Sense. The correlations between the color features of the viewed landscape and the emotional reaction of participants showed that weighted saturation of green and lime colors reduced the unpleasantness both in VR and AR, while the lime pixel area (%) reduced the unpleasantness only in VR. No effects were observed on the Arousal and Sleepiness factors. The effects show high reliability between VR and AR for some of the variables. Implications of the method and the benefits for urban simulation and participatory processes are discussed.
From semantic-aware digital models to Augmented Reality applications for Architectural Heritage conservation and restoration
The paper presents the integration of Augmented Reality and Mixed Reality tools for the built Heritage management and control, both remote and on-site, and real time interaction, starting from a preliminary set of experimentation carried out for knowledge and tourism purposes.
Within the framework of these experimentations, specific data inventories are related to the IFC model, and all these data are collected on a cloud-based platform, allowing the “dialogue” among platform and applications. Therefore, BIM integration is the first step of the procedure, considering a workflow where data capturing, digital documentation, and data modeling and aggregation are the entry level to manage applications able to give an added value in gaining the greatest technical benefit from digitization. Mapping the main features and the state of conservation is the second step, including geometric features, historical knowledge, documents and pictures related to materials, diagnostic analysis, etc.
Starting from AR applications developed on several case studies, including historical buildings, museums and a church, aimed at an immersive on-site navigation thanks to a set of additional information related to the digital model, experimentations oriented to technical uses are presented.
An extension of applications for the analysis and interpretation of architectural heritage and technical uses can be an effective support in restoration, conservation and maintenance of historic buildings, by enhancing the real world through virtual objects and creating a new mixed reality environment for technical users.
The digital anastylosis and the semantic segmentation: the case of the Magna Graecia masks in the Mediterranean area
Fifty years of archaeological activities carried out in the Aeolian Islands have made it possible to bring to light the most complete collection of theatrical masks of the ancient world, an important testimony of the material culture of the theatrical world, during the Classical era. The theatrical masks, preserved at the ‘L. Bernabò Brea’ of Lipari, may be schematized, from a morphological point of view, in three distinct degrees: ‘whole masks’, whole fragments and ‘mute’ fragments. The digital reconstruction and anastylosis workflow follow the same breakdown of these three degrees of status: they have been developed through an inverted pyramid trend, in a scalar and hierarchical way. The universality of the method makes it repeatable and universally applicable to other archaeological finds belonging to a proto-industrial and serial artisan production.
The research aims to define a series of methodologies and techniques to be adopted for the direct survey of archaeological artefacts in fragments and for the definition of a reconstruction and digital anastylosis protocol, with the aim to restore a new memory to the so-called ‘mute’ finds. In order to clarify the genealogical and filiation relationships between the masks, a geometric grid of conspicuous points was identified on each digital model which allowed to rearrange the finds on the basis of their dimensional relationships and to advance, at the same time, a parallel hypothesis of segmentation and semantic annotation, it experimenting the most modern and innovative semantic annotation practices for the Cultural Heritage, in order to improve the understanding, the cataloging and enhancement of the historical data.
Combining on-site and off-site analysis: towards a new paradigm for cultural heritage surveys
In recent decades, cultural heritage survey practices have significantly evolved due to the increasing use of digitization tools providing quick and easy access to faithful copies of study objects. While these digital data have clear advantages, especially in terms of geometric characterization, they also introduce a paradigm shift by outsourcing ex situ most of the analysis activities. This break between real and virtual working environments now raises new issues, both in terms of data dispersion and knowledge correlation in multidisciplinary teams. Benefiting from the fields of information systems and augmented reality, we proposed an integrated approach allowing the fusion of geometric, visual and semantic features in a single platform. Today, this proof of concept leads to new perspectives for the production of semantically enriched digital data. In this paper, we intend to explore the different possibilities in terms of implementation and their benefits for cultural heritage survey.
AR in the Architecture Domain: State of the Art
Augmented reality (AR) allows the real and digital worlds to converge and overlap in a new way of observation and understanding. The architectural field can significantly benefit from AR applications, due to their systemic complexity in terms of knowledge and process management. Global interest and many research challenges are focused on this field, thanks to the conjunction of technological and algorithmic developments from one side, and the massive digitization of built data. A significant quantity of research in the AEC and educational fields describes this state of the art. Moreover, it is a very fragmented domain, in which specific advances or case studies are often described without considering the complexity of the whole development process. The article illustrates the entire AR pipeline development in architecture, from the conceptual phase to its application, highlighting each step’s specific aspects. This storytelling aims to provide a general overview to a non-expert, deepening the topic and stimulating a democratization process. The aware and extended use of AR in multiple areas of application can lead a new way forward for environmental understanding, bridging the gap between real and virtual space in an innovative perception of architecture.