Cultural heritage preservation using new media methods: Yingxian Wooden Pagoda, China

Abstract

Architectural landmarks that represent a culture's identity are also sanctuaries for cultural heritage preservation. The tallest and oldest wooden multi-storey structure in the world, the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda of China is tilting at an ongoing rate that requires an urgency to find solutions to revert the damage. To preserve the evolving humanistic and artistic understandings of ancient Chinese architecture, and to cultivate the scientific reasoning behind ancient Chinese carpentry, new media allows digital and computational assistance to support human users who once relied on manually analysing data and information from cultural sites and artefacts. Using old evidence gathered from previous research, and old methods of documentation that required a strong understanding of the information performed by the researcher, these forms of records can be described as static and antiquated, while only able to offer information as it presents itself. New media gives the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda the latest digital assistance in finding discoveries that were not possible in previous old method research. The aid from computational software and tools expands the evidence once hidden in cultural heritage sites. This article will exemplify new media tools, such as animation via 3D/2D modelling, 3D scanning and virtual reality photography, to examine material evidence on the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda, and the role new media can assist in its fight to sustain its originality since 1056.