Immersive Experiences, Photogrammetry and the History of Religious Architecture

Dr. Neta Bodner, Beni Zaks (The Open University), Mazi Kuzir (PhD fellow)

This project is dedicated to architectural reconstruction of historic buildings with layers of reconstructed action using different technological platforms. We combine representation methods that currently exist in isolation - architectural plans, sections, elevations, movement schemes, sound distribution, sources describing actual ceremonies and people's experiences, and documents about building phases – into a single 3D model that can be accessed as a desktop tour and a VR experience. The VR version allows a 360 degree subjective experience of the space, as captured here in a video from the Oculus VR headsets:

Click to enter the 'digital twin' of the Cologne mikveh, navigate using arrows, track-pad, mouse or W.A.S.D keyboard keys. The model was made with the support of the DHSS Hub and the Israel Science Foundation (grant no. 1502/22) in collaboration with Dr. Tanja Potthoff, Dr. Christiane Twiehaus, Dr. Tzafrir Barzilay and archaeologists Michael Wiehen and Yulia Lim.


The first stage was creating a photogrammetry model. At a second stage we added layers of sound. The music is a reconstruction by Avery Gosfield of Hebrew piyut with medieval Christian musical annotation recorded within the subterranean mikveh of Speyer as part of her project Ritual Echoes with scientific consultation by Neta Bodner. Then we recorded at the site elements of movement, light, and other elements of human embodied perspectives with the help of Yulia Lim, Ertan Özcan and under the supervision of Michael Wiehen. Beni Zaks created animation layers to reflect changes within the space of light and water level throughout the year and day, and we will continue developing these with new measurements in the future. The 'digital twin' includes interactive options for measuring the space and its components; 'walking' within it with the sound of singing or in silence; 'moving' through all accessible parts of the space from an ante chamber at the top through a narrow corridor and right up to the water front; viewing a simulation of flame-light or the space as documented in natural sunlight; raising or lowering the water level in the pool at the bottom of the medieval building.


Virtual video tour of the Cologne Mikveh. The model was made with the support of the DHSS Hub and the Israel Science Foundation (grant no. 1502/22) in collaboration with Dr. Tanja Potthoff, Dr. Christiane Twiehaus (MiQua), Dr. Tzafrir Barzilay and archaeologists Michael Wiehen and Yulia Lim (Archologische Zone Kln ).

 

We believe that architecture is an essential component in any social-historian's endeavour to reconstruct the past. At the same time architecture was meant for use, spaces come alive with action and were designed for activity. This social aspect of public architecture is missing in scholarship on historic buildings and in the modes of visually representing buildings in scholarly publications. It is our contention that visual representations of buildings should encompass their three dimensional qualities and different aspects of human action and experiential potential, and we aim therefore to introduce these features in study, representation and reconstruction of historic buildings using new technological tools and defining new work-protocols and methods.

 

When starting off we aimed to answer some of the following questions: which technologies can support the augmentation of static space and historical documentation with  interactive and embodied layers for changing spatial research questions? How will the nature of analysis change when we use different modelling methods for 3D immersive representations of historic buildings? What can layers of phenomenological data and human animation add to analysis of building design?