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This book presents themes related to contemporary architecture as the results of diverse cultural influences and architectural legacies, manifested in a rich variety of styles, materials, and spatial perceptions. It consists of 24 chapters written by authors from various continents and contains the result of research highlighting contemporary architecture in relation to multiple aspects that are distinguished by their eclectic nature, characterized by the integration of diverse cultural and architectural influences. The book examines aspects involving material aspects, technologies, design, history, salvage, technologies, and digitization. The aspects covered are always filtered through research, which objectively integrates traditional and innovative approaches. Thus, the focus is to explore the contemporary lexicon not only in the field of architecture and engineering, but in all those areas where this theme can be read with a meaningful vision. Contemporary architecture is constantly evolving, reflecting the changing needs of society and anticipating the challenges of the future.

This book gathers peer-reviewed papers presented at the International and Interdisciplinary Conference on Digital Environments for Education, Arts and Heritage (EARTH2023), held in Brixen, Italy, in June 2023. The papers focus on interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary research concerning cutting-edge cultural heritage informatics and engineering; the use of technology for the representation, preservation and communication of cultural heritage knowledge; as well as heritage education in digital environments; innovative experiments in the field of digital representation and methodological reflections on the use of IT tools in various educational contexts. The scope of the papers ranges from theoretical research to applications, including education, in several fields of science, technology and art. EARTH 2018 addressed a variety of topics and subtopics, including digital representation technologies, virtual museums and virtual exhibitions, virtual and augmented reality, digital heritage and digital arts, art and heritage education, teaching and technologies for museums, VR and AR technologies in schools, education through digital media, psychology of perception and attention, psychology of arts and communication, as well as serious games and gamification. As such the book provides architects, engineers, computer scientists, pedagogist, psychologist, social scientists and designers interested in computer applications and cultural heritage with an overview of the latest advances in the field, particularly in the context of science, arts and education.

This book presents contributions which discuss the impact of eXtended Reality (XR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies considered jointly in the fields of Cultural Heritage and Innovative Design. The rapid development of technologies, tools and devices requires a (controlled) expansion of the theoretical content and application areas, as well as careful monitoring of the disciplines that can be involved, starting with the AI-XR pair. XR, an acronym for extended reality, has emerged in recent years as a concept encompassing AR, VR (virtual reality), and MR (mixed reality), offering new ways of interacting with the real. In this sense, the fields of application open to the worlds of tangible and intangible cultural heritage, architectural, environmental, infrastructural and product design, and education, as a place for advanced training and as a tool for educational enhancement.

This book collects contributions which showcase the impact of new augmented reality (AR) and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies considered jointly in the fields of cultural heritage and innovative design. AR is an alternative path of analysis and communication if applied to several fields of research, in particular if related to space and artifacts in it. This happens because the neural network development strengthens the relationship between augmented reality and artificial intelligence, creating processes close to human thought in shorter times. In the last years, the AR/AI expansion and the future scenarios have raised a deep trans-disciplinary speculation. The disciplines of representation (drawing, surveying, visual communication), as a convergence place of multidisciplinary theoretical and applicative studies related to architecture, city, environment, tangible and intangible cultural heritage, are called to contribute to the international debate. The book chapters dealwith augmented reality and artificial intelligence, analyzing their connections as research tools for knowing the environment. In particular, the topics focus on the intersection between real and virtual world and on the heuristic role of drawing in the enhancement and management of cultural heritage, in planning and monitoring the architecture, the environment, or the infrastructures. Scientists involved in AR and AI research applied separately or together in the field of cultural heritage, architectural design, urban planning, and infrastructures analysis, as well as members of public and private organizations make up interdisciplinary groups that fuel the discussion focusing on the priorities and aims of the research related to the disciplines of representation.

This book provides the opportunity to explore the variety of meanings, undertones and contextual connotations that currently pertain to the expressions of'virtual (or digital) restoration'and'reconstruction'. The book focuses on the latest applications of virtual restoration and reconstruction in different areas of Cultural Heritage through the presentation and discussion of several case studies. The goal is to provide a broad perspective on the subject. The sample presented in this book has been indeed selected and evaluated referring to different disciplinary fields such as archaeology, architecture, and conservation while encompassing a variety of cultural and chronological contexts.

This open access book identifies various forms of heritage destruction and analyses their causes. It proposes strategies for avoiding and solving conflicts, based on integrating heritage into the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It reflects on the identity-building role of heritage, on multidimensional conflicts and the destruction of heritage, and considers conflict-solving strategies and future perspectives. Furthermore, it engages theoretically and practically with the concepts of responsibility, reconciliation and sustainability, relating mainly to four Sustainable Development Goals, i.e. SDGs 4 (education), 11 (e.g. World Heritage), 13 (climate action) and 17 (partnerships for the goals). More than 160 countries have inscribed properties on the UNESCO World Heritage list since the World Heritage Convention came into force. Improvements in the implementation of the Convention, such as the Global Strategy for a Representative, Balanced and Credible World HeritageList, have occurred, but other conflicts have not been solved. The book advocates for a balanced distribution of properties and more effective strategies to represent the global diversity of cultural and natural heritage. Furthermore it highlights the importance of heritage in identity building.

This Handbook covers non-invase techniques as well as digital technologies to study cultural heritage. It focuses on multidisciplinary approaches that help site managers to deal with their site form conservation to prevention. The book is conceived to foster exchanges of ideas and information and to update innovation on measurements suitable for cultural heritage across several disciplines. Contributions on measurements deriving from the large number of analytical methodologies and tools (spectroscopy, chemometrics, modeling, etc) are also of interest for the scientific community. Considering the tremendous amount of new interactive technologies which inevitably impact traditional arts, the final section of the Handbook focuses on the use of virtual reality systems in museums and archaeological sites. The Handbook will contribute to build an international network of cultural heritage scientists, architects, geophysicists, archaeologists, and soil scientists.

This book considers the challenges related to the effective implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies to the cultural heritage digitization process. Particular focus is placed on improvements to the data acquisition stage, as well as the data enrichment and curation stages, using advanced artificial intelligence techniques and tools. An emphasis is placed on recent applications related to deep learning for visual recognition, generative models, natural language processing, and super resolution. The book is a valuable reference for researchers working in the multidisciplinary field of cultural heritage and AI, as well as professional experts in the art and culture domains, such as museums, libraries, and historic sites and buildings. Reports on techniques and methods that leverage AI and machine learning and their impact on the digitization of cultural heritage; Addresses challenges of improving data acquisition, enrichment and management processes;Highlights contributions from international researchers from diverse fields and subject areas.

This book provides insights into the state of the art of digital cultural heritage using computer graphics, image processing, computer vision, visualization and reconstruction, virtual and augmented reality and serious games. It aims at covering the emergent approaches for digitization and preservation of Cultural Heritage, both in its tangible and intangible facets. Advancements in Digital Cultural Heritage research have been abundant in recent years covering a wide assortment of topics, ranging from visual data acquisition, pre-processing, classification, analysis and synthesis, 3D modelling and reconstruction, semantics and symbolic representation, metadata description, repository and archiving, to new forms of interactive and personalized presentation, visualization and immersive experience provision via advanced computer graphics, interactive virtual and augmented environments, serious games and digital storytelling. Different aspects pertaining to visual computing with regard to tangible (books, images, paintings, manuscripts, uniforms, maps, artefacts, archaeological sites, monuments) and intangible (e.g. dance and performing arts, folklore, theatrical performances) cultural heritage preservation, documentation, protection and promotion are covered, including rendering and procedural modelling of cultural heritage assets, keyword spotting in old documents, drone mapping and airborne photogrammetry, underwater recording and reconstruction, gamification, visitor engagement, animated storytelling, analysis of choreographic patterns, and many more. The book brings together and targets researchers from the domains of computing, engineering, archaeology and the arts, and aims at underscoring the potential for cross-fertilization and collaboration among these communities.

This book presents the proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Graphic Design in Architecture, EGA 2020, focusing on heritage – including architectural and graphic heritage as well as the graphics of heritage. This first volume gathers selected contributions covering theories, and new technologies and findings to help shed light on current questions related to heritage. It features original documentation studies on historical archives, 3D and solid representation of architectural objects, as well as virtual graphic representation and applications of augmented reality, all documenting and/or reconstructing the present, past and future of architectural objects. As such, this book offers extensive and timely information to architectural and graphic designers, urban designers and engineers, and industrial designers and historians.

This book presents recent advances in mechatronic and integrated monitoring and management systems with applications to architectural, archaeology survey, construction management and civil engineering. It consists of 16 chapters authored by recognized experts in a variety of fields including dynamics, signal processing, inverse modeling, robotics and automation, in particular, here applied to design and construction of civil structures and architectural survey, monitoring and maintenance of cultural heritage assets, structures and infrastructure. The book is organized in three main sections: “Robotics and Automation”, “Digital Technologies for Cultural Heritage” and “Civil Structural Health Monitoring”. Topics include image processing for automated visual inspection, fiber optical sensor technology, wireless sensor monitoring, bridge inspection and monitoring of tunnel infrastructures, design tools for construction engineering, smart cities. Direct and inverse modeling of multibodysystems and robots contributes to the development of applications for civil engineering and smart cities. Digital technology and mechatronic systems changes the way of looking at restoration of historical and archeological sites, analysis, inspection, visualization, management systems and sensor network for Human-Machine Interfaces (HMI). Combined use of geographical information system (GIS), laser scanner, remote sensing, digital thermography and drones as integrated systems permits to highlight new frontier for building and infrastructure knowledge.The book offers a valuable reference work for scientists, architects, engineers, researchers and practitioners in engineering and architecture since the integrated development of new technologies for the design and management of existing and new infrastructure may produce a new market of services and products for safe and economically optimized infrastructure management. Through the dissemination of advanced research developments in mechatronics and integrated management systems, the book promotes exchanges and collaborations among researchers of different disciplines. The book contributes to further advancements in the rapidly growing field of integration of robotic, automation and information technologies in the area of facilities and infrastructure management and construction processes.