Ways of Seeing: Documenting Endangered Built Heritage in Afghanistan

Ways of Seeing: Documenting Endangered Built Heritage in Afghanistan brings together an international team of archaeologists, architects, conservationists, digital artists, journalists, and political scientists to document endangered heritage sites in Afghanistan.

Afghan archaeologists identified a selected number of heritage sites endangered by years of conflict in Afghanistan, and a team of journalists with expertise in digital production has been trained to use drones for data collection. With the collected data, the team creates visual learning resources for both conservation specialists and the general public.

State of the art technology will be used to generate digital twins of the sites, creating a digital 3D architectural archive. Extended reality (XR) applications, enhanced by detailed hand drawings of selected architectural elements, will allow immersive experiences of these at-risk sites.

The team will also author an essay on how to understand and contextualize this data collection, as well as how to interpret and present the end products.

Ways of Seeing preserves the evidence of the heritage sites and provides learning resources for a range of global audiences, including Afghan refugee children currently displaced around the world.