Digital Archives for Academic Heritage: Tools and Processing Environments for the Museum Metaverse and Scientific Dissemination

Abstract. In recent years the digital visualisation techniques, including 3D digital models of indoor spaces, saw an exponential increase in their applications, both in the fields of Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) and of Cultural Heritage (CH). This growth is mainly due to the increasing affordability of tools for the acquisition and elaboration of three-dimensional digital survey/data management and to their increasing ‘user friendliness’.
The research proposes a further step on research started some years ago by our group about the exploration of indoor mapping for the creation of the 3D virtual museum of our Institution, starting with the realisation of a virtual model of the university’s spaces (departments and halls). At first, the virtual museum will host the Curioni Digital Collection, which consist of circa 140 wooden models of building details, bridges, tunnels, and vaults designed by prof. G. Curioni during the second half of the XIX century as teaching aids for the Construction and Structural Design classes. A comparison between two main tools to support management and diffusion of geometrical, alphanumerical, and topological data will be given (Matterport and Unity). The parallel approach considering two tools is to provide a digital twin of a real collection placed in a real space, and, on the other hand, to use a real historical university space, virtualized, to host a virtual collection.