Search Results (679)

This paper examines how historic wooden-built environments and open-air museums can function as pedagogical settings for craft education. Drawing on teaching experiences from higher education in Norway, it analyses how students develop knowledge through guided engagement with tools, materials, and traditional practices in situated learning environments. Two teaching cases, spoon carving in a museum workshop and the investigation of a historic log-built structure, are presented as pedagogical designs. The analysis focuses on how learning is structured and develops through relational and responsive engagement with materials, tools, and professional guidance, rather than solely on learning outcomes. The cases demonstrate how teaching can be organised to support the development of embodied and practice-based knowledge. The paper develops a theoretical framework grounded in 4E cognition (embodied, embedded, extended, and enactive cognition) and Tim Ingold’s concepts of meshwork and wayfaring. These perspectives are applied as analytical tools to examine how learning emerges through action, feedback, and iterative engagement within specific learning environments. Historic workshops, tools, and buildings are approached as pedagogical resources that shape the conditions for learning. While such environments carry historical and material depth, the focus here is on how they structure students’ engagement and influence learning processes in practice. The paper argues that craft pedagogy involves the design of learning situations where material engagement, reflection, and professional guidance are integrated. It proposes an understanding of learning as a situated and relational practice, in which knowledge develops through participation in practice rather than through transmission alone. Full article

Heritage management has traditionally been shaped by what Laurajane Smith termed the “authorized heritage discourse,” wherein a narrow group of professionals determines values and meanings on behalf of broader communities. This article argues that a more inclusive, socially responsible model of heritage management is both possible and necessary. Drawing on three convergent intellectual traditions—heritage interpretation as originally formulated by Freeman Tilden, eco-museums and the new museology born from the Santiago de Chile Round Table of 1972, and the human-rights-based framework for cultural heritage enshrined in the Council of Europe’s Faro Convention of 2005—the article proposes “heritage literacy” as a conceptual synthesis which can bridge these streams. Heritage literacy denotes a form of socially responsible heritage management that empowers citizens to understand the processes through which heritage is constructed, to participate actively in its interpretation, and to direct their own development through it. The article demonstrates that heritage literacy operates simultaneously as knowledge/wisdom management and as a democratic practice, arguing that it should be recognized as an essential dimension of (cultural/heritage-related) human rights. By tracing the theoretical genealogy of each contributing tradition and synthesizing them into a unified framework, this article offers both a conceptual contribution to heritage studies and a practical orientation for heritage professionals and policymakers seeking to move beyond top–down models of heritage governance. Full article

Museum collections are at risk from insects. A changing climate or increased amounts of imported materials, exhibition loans and international travel, can increase exotic species. Heritage properties are often monitored for pests, so we used trapping data from 31 Austrian museums, libraries and storerooms. The carpet beetles Anthrenus spp. and Attagenus spp. studied here, showed that the catch of these two species in buildings was correlated. Unheated libraries show high catch rates for Anthrenus spp., Attagenus spp. seemed more often caught in heated/urban museums. Anthrenus verbasci, Anthrenus olgae and Anthrenus museorum account for almost 98% of our catch. Anthrenus verbasci and Anthrenus olgae are commonly found occurring together suggesting they form a core ecological pair, found in most buildings. Rarer Anthrenus fuscus appears typically at locations lacking winter heating. Attagenus smirnovi and Attagenus unicolor accounted for 95% of this genus in the buildings. There are notable differences in the types of carpet beetle across European heritage environments. Anthrenus olgae, often trapped in Austria, is uncommon elsewhere, while Anthrenus sarnicus, fairly common in the UK, is rare elsewhere. Not enough is known about the range of heritage insects across Europe, which is increasingly relevant to management under a changing climate. Full article

Multimodal artificial intelligence-generated content (AIGC) is reshaping museum digital exhibitions through dynamic content generation, contextual storytelling, and interactive feedback. Despite its growing adoption, the impact of AIGC’s experiential attributes on visitors’ digital exhibition experience intention remains underexplored. Drawing on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), this study develops an integrative framework incorporating AIGC technology acceptance, perceived immersion, content creativity, interaction quality, cognitive evaluations, and affective responses. Data were collected from 481 visitors with prior digital exhibition experience and analyzed using PLS-SEM. The results indicate that AIGC technology acceptance significantly influences perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and digital exhibition experience intention; interaction quality enhances usability and exerts a direct effect on intention; and immersion and content creativity primarily shape intention through perceived enjoyment while also exhibiting direct effects. These findings extend TAM to multimodal AIGC-enabled museum contexts and provide empirical evidence to guide the design of culturally meaningful, interactive, and engaging digital exhibition experiences. Full article

As core architectural environments for cultural heritage preservation and public education, museums are evolving from static exhibition spaces into immersive, multisensory interactive environments. The sensory attributes of the architectural environment—including multimodal information such as light, sound, and touch—exhibit a dynamic coupling with visitors’ emotional states. Responding to visitors’ growing emphasis on emotional enhancement, this study aims to improve the emotional experience of museum tours through multisensory compensation strategies. First, we conducted an experiment at the Shaanxi Archaeology Museum, capturing facial videos of participants during their tours and utilizing a facial expression analysis system for continuous emotion recognition. Subsequently, drawing on theories of multisensory interaction and emotion regulation, we constructed a multisensory emotion regulation model to guide the sensory compensation experiment. Visualization analysis of the results confirmed that multisensory compensation strategies within the architectural environment significantly increased positive emotions (from 48.23% to 60.78%). This study focuses on the mechanisms by which sensory compensation strategies in the architectural environment influence visitors’ emotional experiences, aiming to promote the transformation of cultural heritage spaces from “function-oriented” to “emotion-oriented” environments. Full article

Historic districts are complex built heritage environments where conservation, commercial activities, and public use continuously interact. A key challenge is maintaining cultural meaning and spatial authenticity while meeting contemporary demands for leisure and accessibility. Taking the Fuzimiao–Qinhuai Scenic Belt in Nanjing, China, as a representative case, this study develops a computational mixed-methods framework to evaluate visitor perception and diagnose experiential imbalances in the built heritage environment. A total of 2940 online reviews (2020–2025) were analysed using TF-IDF, Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), StructBERT sentiment analysis, and Importance–Performance Analysis (IPA). Six experiential dimensions were identified, covering cultural inheritance, nightscape and leisure, rituals and museum visits, architectural space, value evaluation, and practical services. Results reveal a clear disparity: nightscape and value-related dimensions received the highest attention and positive sentiment, whereas rituals and museum interpretation underperformed despite their central heritage significance. Based on the IPA diagnosis, the study proposes three strategies: reallocating resources from over-supplied services to underperforming cultural cores, integrating immersive digital technologies (VR/AR) to revitalise heritage interpretation, and embedding cultural narratives into nightscape experiences. These strategies support a paradigm shift from visual attraction to cultural resonance in the conservation-oriented regeneration of historic districts. Full article

Indoor environmental conditions must remain stable to preserve the cultural heritage objects exhibited in museums. Fluctuations in temperature and relative humidity accelerate degradation, and for this reason, their control is essential. Based on this, in this study, a machine learning-based framework for indoor microclimate forecasting is developed and evaluated, with application to the Archaeological Museum of Delphi. The analysis was based on indoor hourly temperature and relative humidity data from August 2022 to October 2024, combined with outdoor observational and ERA5-Land reanalysis data. Random Forest, Gradient Boosting and Support Vector Regression models were developed for 48 and 72 h forecast horizons. The RMSE, MAE, and R² methods were used to perform the model, while interpretability techniques, including Permutation Importance analysis and SHAP analysis, were also applied. The models successfully predicted indoor temperature with high accuracy, and the Gradient Boosting model demonstrated superior performance across all forecast horizons. Relative humidity proved to be more complex, with all models showing limited predictive skill. Overall, the findings highlight that temperature prediction depends on the building’s thermal inertia and historical values, while relative humidity is more sensitive to external and seasonal influences. Finally, this study demonstrates the potential of machine learning methods for forecasting microclimatic conditions in museum environments. Full article

Rapid and often chaotic urbanisation in post-Soviet cities such as Almaty challenges the quality, availability, and accessibility of public spaces for residents, given the cities’ historical development. Meanwhile, global research is focused on the concepts of Third Places, coworking spaces in the Western context, and urban experience in cities with transitional economies, but the heritage of centrally planned urban development lacks spatial explicit analysis. The purpose of the current study is to analyse the evolution, current situation, and distribution of collaborative spaces (public spaces that combine work and connectedness) in Almaty. The methodology includes four phases of qualitative analysis: (1) a historical–typological analysis of architectural functions since the beginning of the 20th century until the 2025, (2) spatial mapping analysis of the existing typologies such as libraries, museums, coworking spaces, research and development (R&D) institutions and universities, and community centres, (3) longitudinal statistical analysis, and (4) historical graphic analysis. Analysis is conducted through the lens of advanced levels of human needs that concern self-education and self-development. This approach helped to propose a new definition of collaborative space. The results also show examples of sustainable urban structure with collaborative spaces in Almaty’s old centre (“Zolotoi Kvadrat”—Golden Square) and a critical deficit of new multifunctional spaces for work and socialisation in recently developed districts. The study reveals that Almaty’s evolution occurred through incremental infill development over the old grid, without the integrated development of the public realm and existing structural connections. As a result, the research explores the connection between collaborative spaces and their indirect influence on the general well-being in Almaty. Full article

Virtual reality (VR) is transforming heritage tourism, yet understanding how specific technological attributes drive on-site visitation remains critical for destination marketers and policymakers. Grounded in the Stimulus–Organism–Response (SOR) model, this study investigates how VR vividness and interactivity (stimuli) influence perceived usefulness, immersion, ease of use, enjoyment, and certainty (organisms), ultimately shaping users’ on-site visitation intentions and behavioral involvement (responses) regarding Macao’s cultural heritage sites. Analyzing data from 230 users recruited via snowball sampling, the results indicate that the Ruins of St. Paul’s VR experience was the most popular (n = 113), followed by the Macao Museum (n = 95) and the Guia Fortress (n = 75). Structural equation modeling demonstrates that VR vividness and interactivity significantly influence user perceptions, which in turn impact on-site visitation intentions and behavioral involvement, with the sole exception of perceived enjoyment. These findings suggest that the “sense of presence” generated by VR significantly shapes on-site visitation intentions through internal cognitive (perceived usefulness, certainty) and combined cognitive–emotional (perceived immersion) organismic states. Conversely, perceived enjoyment has an insignificant effect on responses, while perceived ease of use, surprisingly, exerts a significant negative impact. The research offers actionable insights for developing immersive digital tools that bridge virtual engagement with tangible cultural heritage tourism in Macao. Full article

One difficult issue regarding adaptation and adaptive reuse of existing buildings is assessing the heritage significance of functional industrial-oriented heritage buildings, such as railway buildings, that have outlived their original purpose. There is a significant tension in developing strategies for the long-term viability of a sustainable, adaptive reuse of this type of heritage infrastructure. Complicating an assessment is that these buildings may be in constrained locations, or the location has changed beyond all recognition, such that the building inhabits a sterile space. Accepted practice for conserving heritage buildings is to discourage relocating these buildings, with a scholarly concern that presentation of relocated buildings for public engagement will undermine interpretive thinking. In all cases, functional heritage buildings complicate conservation decisions in comparison with mainstream heritage buildings. Existing conservation frameworks remain insufficiently equipped to evaluate industrial and utilitarian heritage buildings whose significance derives as much from operational function, social memory, and technological context as from architectural fabric or fixed location. In response, taxonomy surveying is advanced as a novel stakeholder-centred conservation methodology capable of reconciling tensions between authenticity, adaptive reuse, relocation, and public interpretation. The aim, using case study railway buildings in a museum of industrial heritage, is to test if this methodology is transferable to other functional building types. The findings suggest that taxonomy surveying, as tested on the case study buildings, offers a scalable and internationally transferable framework for evaluating complex industrial heritage assets across differing regulatory, cultural, and spatial contexts. Full article

Adaptive reuse has become a central strategy for extending the cultural, environmental, and functional life of industrial heritage, yet the ways in which intervention logic becomes legible in multilayered heritage complexes remain insufficiently formalized. This article examines the Cibali complex in Istanbul, a former tobacco and cigarette factory reused as a university, cultural, and museum setting, in order to explain how document-based analysis can reconstruct patterns of continuity, loss, re-construction, contemporary addition, and layer articulation. Methodologically, the study develops a multi-scalar reading protocol based on the cross-matching of historical maps, aerial photographs, plans, sections, elevations, restoration proposals, and post-implementation visual material across parcel, block, courtyard, façade, structural-system, and archaeological-layer scales. The findings show that continuity was preserved primarily at the levels of parcel structure, waterfront relation, massing, façade rhythm, and silhouette, whereas more intensive transformation occurred in interior spatial organization, void re-definition, structural re-configuration, and archaeological musealization. The study concludes that adaptive reuse at Cibali operated not as a uniform conservation process, but as a differentiated and selective regime of legibility in which some historical layers were foregrounded while others were transformed, displaced, or made secondary. The significance of the article lies in proposing a case-tested analytical protocol for reading document-rich, multilayered industrial heritage sites, while recognizing that its broader transferability requires further validation through comparative application to additional cases. Full article

Current challenges in the construction field emphasize the need for compatible and durable materials for heritage interventions. Traditional lime-based mortars often exhibit limitations under environmental exposure, particularly in terms of water absorption and freeze–thaw resistance. This article investigates the performance of hydroxyapatite (HAp)-modified lime mortars applied in a real-scale heritage context, namely a student built micro-museum developed within the Apoș Architecture Summer School. Following the premature degradation of a conventional lime mortar layer applied at roof level, HAp-modified formulations were introduced as a protective and consolidating solution. The experimental approach combines laboratory testing and in situ evaluation, including compressive strength measurements, water absorption, capillarity tests, chromatic analysis, and freeze–thaw assessment. The results indicate a reduction in water absorption from approximately 22% to 12%, an increase in compressive strength from 6.57 MPa to 19.95 MPa and a significant improvement in freeze–thaw resistance, reflected by a decrease in gelivity from 61.2% to 5.73%, compared to traditional lime mortars. In addition, the contact angle increased from 36° to 82°, indicating enhanced hydrophobic behavior. These improvements are associated with pore structure refinement, reduced capillary uptake, and enhanced interfacial bonding within the mortar matrix. The study also highlights the role of real-scale educational environments in validating sustainable material solutions. Full article

Silk fabrics and caftans preserved in the Topkapı Palace Museum collection constitute a distinguished group of cultural heritage objects reflecting the advanced weaving technologies, refined metal-thread use, and sophisticated natural dyeing practices of Ottoman court textile production. In this study, selected ceremonial caftans attributed to five Ottoman sultans were examined through a multidisciplinary and multi-analytical approach to characterize their structural, chromatic, and chemical properties. Color characteristics were evaluated in the CIE L*a*b* color space, while yarn properties, weave structures, and production techniques were investigated by optical microscopy. The morphology and elemental composition of the metal threads were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM–EDX), and dyestuffs were identified by high-performance liquid chromatography with diode-array detection (HPLC–DAD). The results show that compound silk weaving structures were widely used in Ottoman court textiles, metal threads were predominantly silver-based and often gold-gilded, and dyestuffs with high fastness properties were preferentially selected. The revised manuscript situates these findings within a broader international literature on historical textile analysis and natural dye characterization, while using only a limited number of directly relevant studies from the authors’ previous work. The present study therefore provides new, object-specific and comparable data for the scientific documentation, material characterization, and conservation-oriented understanding of Ottoman textile heritage. Full article

Museums are increasingly required to combine digital transformation with sustainability goals under conditions shaped by ecological pressures, resource constraints, and long-term heritage responsibilities. This paper examines museum digital transition as a problem of strategic governance rather than merely technological adoption. Drawing on an exploratory qualitative case study based on the Italian ECO ART programme, the research analyses participatory activities, best practices, and project materials related to green and digital transition in the cultural sector. The findings show that the main barriers concern governance, process design, skills continuity, and monitoring, rather than technology alone. In response, the paper proposes a strategic framework composed of a Sustainability Matrix and a Roadmap. The matrix connects technologies, processes, and people with the cultural, social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainability, while the Roadmap structures digital planning from diagnosis to monitoring. This work argues that digital transformation can support sustainable and resilience-oriented heritage management only when it is planned as a low-impact, inclusive, and long-term organizational process. Full article

While digital heritage preservation often prioritizes visual fidelity, it frequently overlooks cultural narratives and emotional resonance. This study proposes a systematic human-centered design (HCD) framework integrating the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Quality Function Deployment (QFD) to optimize Virtual Reality (VR) museums for ancient bronze vessels. By mapping 35 user requirements onto 25 technical parameters through the House of Quality (HOQ), the research identifies “Cultural Memory Inheritance,” “Artistic Expression,” and “Emotional Resonance” as the pivotal requirements. These findings suggest that technical specifications should serve as a foundation for narrative depth rather than as ultimate objectives. A synergistic strategy—comprising technical implementation, semantic translation, and effectiveness enhancement—is delineated to guide design priorities. Validated through a prototype VR system, this framework offers a replicable, data-driven methodology for cultural digitization, advocating for a value-oriented paradigm in immersive museum design grounded in authenticity and emotional engagement. Full article