This contribution discusses an ongoing project integrating information modeling and immersive tech-nologies for the built space, in particular augmented reality (AR). We examined tools and procedures to quickly recognize the equipment present on telecommunication network sites and access the cor-responding components on a digital information model. A first phase of the project, recently complet-ed, produced an app prototype for mobile devices capable of showing a 1:1 scale AR representation on-site. The project highlights current limitations and opportunities in making the interaction between AR and building information modeling (BIM) technologies fully scalable.
Representation Challenges: Searching for New Frontiers of AR and AI Research
Index – REPRESENTATION CHALLENGES New Frontiers of AR and AI Research for Cultural Heritage and Innovative Design
Representation Challenges: The Reasons of the Research
Index – REPRESENTATION CHALLENGES Augmented Reality and Artificial Intelligence in Cultural Heritage and Innovative Design Domain
AR&AI in the Didactics of the Representation Disciplines
The class of Digital Representation Techniques is an optional class for architecture and engineering students at the Politecnico di Torino. For the second year, the program of the class, focused on the the-oretical and applicative panorama of technologies for digital drawing, integrates an introduction to the most recent developments in augmented reality (AR) and artificial intelligence (AI), two technological fields that are deeply influencing the interpretation of physical assets through digital models. The class requires students to produce different deliverables, including a research essay, graphic representation documents (plates or brochures), a video proving animation and editing skills, and a prototype AR ap-plication. The proposed contribution presents methods, objectives, and some of the results of the class, highlighting the interaction between the different digital representation techniques and deepening the critical aspects related to the introduction of new AR and AI technologies.
Re-contextualizing the standing Sekhmet statues in the Temple of Ptah at Karnak through digital reconstruction and VR experience
Recent trends in the Digital Humanities – conceived as new modalities of collaborative, transdisciplinary and computational research and presentation – also strongly influence research approaches and presentation practices in museums. Indeed, ongoing projects in museums have considerably expanded digital access to data and information, documentation and visualization of ancient ruins and objects. In addition, 3D modelling and eXtended Reality opened up new avenues of interacting with a wider public through digital reconstructions that allow both objects and sites to be presented through visual narratives based on multidisciplinary scholarly research. The article illustrates the use of 3D digital reconstruction and virtual reality to re-contextualise standing statues of Sekhmet in the Temple of Ptah at Karnak, where they were found in 1818. Today, they are on display at Museo Egizio, Turin. The theoretical framework of the research and the operational workflow – based on the study of the available archaeological, textual, and pictorial data – is presented here.
Scalable AR for Bim: An Application to Telecommunication Network Sites
A growing number of research works, experiments and applications is investigating the potential at the intersection of augmented reality (AR) and the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry. Project management, project communication, collaborative design, maintenance and construction progress documentation, construction site safety, and training are some of the cases that can benefit from blending real and virtual views through mobile devices. In recent years, research also highlighted how mixed reality and building information modeling (BIM) could cooperate to provide effective communication between multiple agents and closer interaction between digital information and the building site. Nevertheless, consolidated applications in these fields are still limited, especially when compared to other areas of AR adoption. This paper presents the development of an AR-based mobile app for exploring telecommunications tower sites and interacting with a related BIM database. The project aims to provide easy-to-use tools to maintain both the physical assets and an up-to-date model. We discuss critical issues in developing a scalable and interoperable application, supporting the feasibility study of similar solutions in the AEC sector.
Reconstructive 3D Modelling and Interactive Visualization for Accessibility of Piffetti’s Library in the Villa della Regina Museum (Turin)
This research is realised in the framework of a project recently funded as part of the PNRR (National Recovery and Resilience Plan) in the Accessibility sector. The working team has been established in the framework of the scientific agreement between the Museum of Villa della Regina in Turin, the Department of Architecture and Design at Politecnico di Torino, and the Department of History, Drawing and Restoration of Architecture at Sapienza Università di Roma, and includes knowledge from art history, digital surveying, 3D modelling, and digital solutions for cultural heritage. The research involves the reconstructive 3D modelling of Piffetti’s Library, once placed in the cabinet toward midnight and west inside the Villa della Regina and today in the Palazzo del Quirinale, and its interactive visualisation through augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) aimed at accessibility.