Historical archival documentation plays a vital role in understanding the geographical and cultural evolution of a territory. The introduction of modern digital technologies has revolutionized this field, enabling more dynamic forms of research. Digital visualization techniques, including 3D models and environmental simulations, provide an enhanced understanding of historical projects, making them accessible to a wider audience. Digitizing historical sources allows not only for document preservation but also for reconstructing territories and unrealized projects in three dimensions. This approach transforms static interpretations into tangible visual representations, facilitating the analysis of territorial transformations and infrastructure development. A notable example is Eugenio Miozzi’s 1952 project for a floating motorway connecting Campalto and Punta Sabbioni in Venice. Miozzi’s plan addressed the need to overcome the discontinuity between land and water, proposing a solution that redefined Venice’s urban relationship with its surrounding landscape. By integrating archival data with digital reconstruction methods, researchers created a 3D model of the lagoon bed and structural elements of the project. Georeferencing historical data and processing bathymetric information enabled a precise and detailed model. The interoperability of digital models allowed for clearer visualization and interdisciplinary collaboration. The digital reconstruction highlighted construction details that were otherwise unclear, such as the layout of floating pontoons and the interaction between structural elements. This process not only emphasized the complexity and innovation of Miozzi’s proposal but also offered valuable insights into its potential practical implications.
A Reconstructed Architecture as a Meeting Place and Panoramic Viewpoint
The research focuses on the San Pietro restaurant in Genoa, a significant example of rationalist architecture designed by Mario Labò between 1935 and 1938. The building, characterized by large windows and reinforced concrete terraces, integrated internal and external spaces in a unique relationship with the coastal landscape. Although partially demolished in the 1960s because of the needs of new infrastructure, the restaurant maintains a symbolic and historical value. Through digital technologies, such as 3D modelling and mixed reality, a refunctionalization is proposed that restores memory and meaning to this building and its urban context. The use of digital tools allows the creation of immersive hybrid panoramas that combine historical sources, reliefs and iconographic materials. This interdisciplinary methodology not only reconstructs the original qualities of the building, but also highlights the transformations that have occurred over time, allowing the dialogue between past, present and future to be explored. The Foce area, currently still evolving, is analysed to narrate its history, interpret its present and imagine its future. The project is configured as a replicable model, demonstrating how the integration between innovative technologies and historical narratives can enhance cultural heritage and stimulate reflection on the role of architecture in contemporary cities. The virtual reconstruction thus becomes a digital “window”, capable of raising awareness among a wide audience, encouraging new ways of enjoying and understanding the architectural heritage.
Digital Echoes—Revisiting the Venetian Church of Crociferi from the Perspective of Artificial Intelligence
This work investigates the application of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies within the framework of the discipline of architectural representation. It challenges the typical AI workflow, which often applies AI to unknown territories resulting in unpredictable, yet too easily accepted, outcomes. The case study of the experiment, partly described here, is the lost Church of Santa Maria Assunta dei Crociferi, in Venice, Italy. Despite the lack of scholarly attention, this site is noted for its historical significance. The experimentation begins by analysing the research made by two architecture historians: Sherman (The Lost Venetian Church of Santa Maria Assunta dei Crociferi: Form, Decoration, Patron-age. Independent Publishing Network, London, [1]) and Galeazzo (Dinamiche di crescita di un margine urbano: l’insula dei Gesuiti a Venezia dalle soglie dell’età moderna alla fine della Repubblica, Università Ca’ Foscari, Venezia, pp. 455–692, [2]), then DALL-E is used to generate images based on the same textual information, adapted to prompts. Finally, the results are evaluated in relation to traditional approaches belonging to the methodologies of history of architecture and architectural drawing. The aim is to observe how the AI model responds to the gaps in visual documentation, without necessarily expecting a precise reconstruction of the church. A key factor impacting this methodology is AI’s real-time evolution, which may shift research parameters. Most of all, this study discusses what the AI-generated images reveal about the databases used to train these models, as the experiment identifies patterns that reflect aspects of architectural knowledge widely available online. The paper investigates the still blurred connections between AI research and architectural practice, approaching both possibilities and limitations, providing architects with critical knowledge and enhancing awareness of their newest instruments and tools.
AR for Understanding Architectural Drawings: Gustavo Tognetti’s Plates
Tools such as augmented reality and virtual reality are now available to anyone with a mobile device. These technologies have aroused considerable interest for their possible applications in education. The ability to visualise, through mixed reality, information directly superimposed on reality, augmenting and enriching it with notions, procedures and insights, offers an important channel of dissemination directly linked to the portions of reality to which this information refers. Among the innumerable fields of application is undoubtedly the study of historical heritage; heritage that is often characterised by limited accessibility, be it physical or cognitive. Often the understanding of such heritage must also be mediated by a preparatory background that is not always available. An emblematic example is architectural drawings, whose variety and complexity require specific training and culture for in-depth compression. The proposed study hypothesised a possible application of AR tools based on architectural drawings. Specifically, the heritage studied are 12 didactic plates drafted by architect Gustavo Tognetti at the end of the nineteenth century and addressed to students of Drawing courses at the University of Cagliari. The aim is to allow the students to visualise the three-dimensional models of the architectural elements depicted and described in the Tognetti’s plates, especially those relating to the architectural orders. A direct visualisation of the 3D reproduction of what is depicted two-dimensionally in the plates constitutes a rapid support to the understanding of such elements characterised by geometries that cannot always be immediately visualised mentally by students of Architecture in their early years.
Securing the Future: Cybersecurity Challenges and Approaches in Extended Reality and Interactive Experiences
Extended Reality (XR) and interactive experiences are revolutionizing training by bridging the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application. Unlike traditional methods, such as text-based manuals or passive video demonstrations, XR enables scenario-based simulations that allow users to engage with real-world challenges in a risk-free environment. This approach can enhance engagement, improve knowledge retention, and ensure that content can be adapted to evolving industry demands and emerging knowledge.
However, the widespread adoption of XR also raises critical cybersecurity concerns, particularly regarding data collection, management, and protection. The absence of established policies and procedures exacerbates these risks, increasing vulnerability to data breaches and cyberattacks. Without more stringent regulatory frameworks, XR platforms may inadvertently compromise security rather than strengthen it.
This paper examines the intersection between XR and cybersecurity, highlighting both the transformative potential of immersive learning experiences and the urgent need for robust data protection measures. Addressing these challenges is essential to ensuring that XR technologies can be safely and effectively integrated into training environments without undermining security principles.
Revealing and Interpreting Complex Urban Patterns from Location Based Social Network Data. An Investigation into Chinese Stadiums in the Global South
This paper focuses on the adoption of big data visual representation and semantic interpretation to study complex urban patterns in places largely impervious to traditional mapping technologies and documentary analytical tools. In particular, it examines stadiums built by China in the Global South as part of a broader strategy of building diplomacy. Between 1959 and 2022, China facilitated approximately 2,000 construction projects in developing countries, among which more than 150 are large-scale sports facilities. While these buildings have mainly been analyzed from architectural and typological perspectives, their relationships with the surrounding urban environments and their effects on local communities and ecosystems have remained largely unexplored and difficult to interpret. This paper demonstrates how big data — particularly Location-Based Social Network (LBSN) data — together with visualization and AI-supported interpretation systems, can provide new opportunities to understand the capacity of these large-scale architectural infrastructures to attract people, influence movement patterns throughout urban space, and generate economic and social impacts on the existing city.
Index – Representation Across Boundaries New Links with AI, AI-GEN, and XR Tools for Cultural Heritage and Innovative Design
Preface – Representation Across Boundaries New Links with AI, AI-GEN, and XR Tools for Cultural Heritage and Innovative Design
Representation Across Boundaries: New Paradigms in the Age of AI and XR
The introduction and rapid expansion of new algorithms based on Machine Learning (ML) and Deep Learning (DL) processes to support knowledge and design activities has revolutionized multiple domains in recent years. Among these, research in the fields of Cultural Heritage, Design, and Architecture is fostering the development of new methodologies for study and content creation — partly supporting existing tools and partly replacing them entirely — while offering a new paradigmatic perspective on the impact of AI within these domains.
More specifically, the introduction of Generative AI (GenAI) and the creation of new forms of content within these fields open new possibilities for the understanding, analysis, design, and communication of architecture and design. At the same time, these developments highlight the limitations and risks associated with their uncritical use and raise important ethical questions. Human guidance and supervision in generative processes still remain — fortunately — a foundational component of these workflows, ensuring control over results while encouraging their implementation across different areas.
Through a concise review of current research in the field, the article provides an updated overview of recent international studies, while anticipating possible future developments concerning XR and AI in Cultural Heritage, Design, and Architecture.