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This post highlights activities and results of the project Enabling city dwellers to better understand and valorise intangible and built heritage together: Digital tools and practices ran by the ARCHETIPO Working Group (WG) between 2023 to 2025. The project leaders were Elena Gigliarelli and Georgios Artopoulos, chairs of the ARCHETIPO WG. This project was funded by the Working Groups Funding Scheme 2023-2025.
The project sought to establish an interdisciplinary community in architecture and Digital Humanities through the organisation of a 5-day international workshop. By uniting diverse disciplines, stakeholders, and authorities, the project aimed to integrate local expertise on traditional building methods into a digital platform. Recognising the need to document and preserve traditional techniques, the project employed digital technologies for research. These tools not only process images and geometrically represent construction but also acquire architectural information historically transmitted through computational methods.
The 5-day international workshop on Digital integrated strategies to safeguard heritage construction technologies was held from 30 September to 5 October 2024 in Poggioreale (Trapani), at the Town Hall council chamber. Organised by CNR-ISPC in collaboration with The Cyprus Institute and the University of Catania, and supported by the Municipality of Poggioreale, it brought together lecturers, students, PhD candidates and professionals from Italy, Spain, Portugal, Morocco and Cyprus.
Image from the workshop held in the municipal hall of Poggioreale Nuova
The goal of this workshop was to explore how integrated digital tools can support threatened historic settlements,
construction provenance knowledge, safeguarding and a potential rehabilitation as well as the study of safe access to a historic settlement at risk, with a focus on the digital curation of knowledge about traditional construction technologies.
Blending theory and practical sessions, the workshop focused on the scientific and operational aspects of heritage digitization, fostering interdisciplinary dialogue among academics, professionals, and local communities while utilizing advanced digital technologies. The methods and processes explored in this workshop were classes on BIM/HBIM and data management alternated with fieldwork: 2D/3D surveys using drone photogrammetry and mobile SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping), typological–construction analysis, and data-processing pipelines. The choice of Old Poggioreale—abandoned after the 1968 Belice earthquake—offered an open-air laboratory to trial workflows that can be replicated in other European contexts.
Processing and contributions from the University of Catania.
The workshop had a significant impact not only on the scientific level but also on raising awareness within the local community. Poggioreale has become an international case study for the application of digital technologies to heritage conservation, demonstrating how the dialogue between past and future can lead to innovative and sustainable solutions. The team produced a georeferenced 3D baseline (point clouds and orthophotos), pilot HBIM models with libraries of techniques (vaults, masonry, floors), and initial safety recommendations to enable controlled public access.
Teaching materials (slides, workflows, checklists) will make the experience reusable in other courses. Content will be soon published open access on DARIAH-Campus, with persistent identifiers issued via an open repository, and will feed HERIGITAL, ARCHETIPO’s forthcoming semantic database. The event, supported by E-RIHS.it (for non-invasive investigations and FAIR data practices) and co-funded by BHiLab (ISPC) with an additional €5,000, strengthened new collaborations among partners and with the local community.
Find out more about the ARCHETIPO WG and how to get involved here.
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