Architectural contextualization of heritage museum artifacts using augmented reality

Abstract

Context is crucial for understanding meanings and values of heritage. Heritage artifacts from recently destroyed monuments are exhibited in various museums around the world; contextualizing those isolated heritage artifacts enables museums to communicate the architectural and spatial qualities of the original context to their visitors. With the rapid evolution of digital technologies, museums started to incorporate Augmented Reality (AR), to present and interpret their collections in more appealing and exciting ways. AR not only enriches heritage communication, but also encourages interactivity for visitors in museums. Through a field study in a real-world museum environment, we investigated how AR enhances the communication of the original context of an isolated artifact from the Nimrud palace in Iraq. We deployed a mixed-methods evaluation methodology that led to an effective and engaging communication of the architectural context of that artifact, particularly perceiving and recalling architectural features and spatial dimensions. We conclude the paper with a set of discussion points about how AR positively affects visitors’ memorability of architectural qualities, and how it provokes their curiosity to explore more information. We highlight some considerations about AR visualization, such as how levels of embellishment direct the user’s focus of attention, and which aspects should be considered when using AR abstract visualization to communicate heritage. We outline several design recommendations to overcome current AR usability issues in museums concerning intuition, freedom of movement, and age-related differences.