Digital Heritage through VR and Generative AI
ARCH 7036-04/ARCH5051-04.Elective Theory Seminar, SAID, DAAP, Spring 2025
Class time: Monday. 10 am -12:50 pm. Classroom: 4425-E, CGC Lab, DAAP building.
Faculty: Ming Tang, Professor in Architecture and Interior Design, DAAP. Director of Extended Reality Lab. XR-Lab
Seminar Description
This seminar invites students to explore the intersection of architecture, history, artificial intelligence, and immersive technologies by reimagining the past through digital heritage. Drawing on historic documents and archival materials from Cincinnati, students will work closely with historians to reconstruct a Cincinnati neighborhood as it existed in the 1950s, allowing users to step back in time and experience its spaces and stories through immersive visualization and virtual reality (VR).
Throughout the semester, students will investigate how generative AI, virtual reality (VR), and interactive visualization can preserve and reinterpret cultural memory. Using Unreal Engine as the primary platform, participants will design interactive VR environments for mobile headsets, creating spaces where history, atmosphere, and narrative merge into immersive experiences. The seminar aligns with UNESCO’s Memory of the World initiative, emphasizing the preservation of documentary and architectural heritage for future generations.
In addition to a large collaborative group project, each student will conduct a samll individual research-based design investigation focused on a “lost” historic artifact—such as a forgotten art work or street furniture. Through AI-assisted modeling, reality capture, and digital prototyping, students will gain hands-on experience reconstructing the intangible layers of history while developing advanced technical and conceptual skills in digital heritage creation.
Skills covered: Unreal Engine 5, Generative AI tools, Immersive VR development for Meta Quest
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
- Explain how digital media shapes collective memory, fosters cultural understanding, and expands access to heritage across time and space.
- Employ generative AI tools to create and refine architectural designs informed by reference data and contextual analysis.
- Design and integrate high-fidelity virtual reality experiences and audio narratives to enhance spatial storytelling, deployed in the Meta Quest VR headset.
- Critically analyze and articulate the workflows, challenges, and methodologies involved in digitally reconstructing historic architecture.
- Develop a generative AI-assisted design project that augments and streamlines the 3D modeling process.
By Caroline McCarthy, DAAP, UC. 2024. Unreal Engine.
Week 1 – Introduction: Digital Heritage + Course Overview
- Lecture: Reimagining History through XR and AI
- Discussion: Historic Cincinnati streets
- Workshop: Overview of XR technologies, digital twins, and VR hardware (Quest 3 setup)
- Assignment: Group organization and individual task
Week 2 – Unreal Engine Foundations
- Demo: Unreal Engine 5 interface, navigation, and project setup
- Workshop: Basic environment creation, importing geometry, lighting & material setup
- Lab: Create a small “street scene” with period references
Week 3 – 3D Assets & Historical References
- Lecture: Historic Cincinnati
- Workshop: Importing and optimizing 3D models (AI-generated meshes)
- Lab: Build the base environment of a Cincinnati street block
- Assignment: Collect historical images and create a 3D reference board
Week 4 – Generative AI for Architecture
- Lecture: AI as a Co-Designer in Heritage Reconstruction
- Demo: Nonbanana + Image/3D AI workflows for architectural texture and concept generation
- Workshop: AI-to-Unreal pipeline — converting generated images into materials and assets
- Lab: Generate building facades and signage using AI tools
Week 5 – Advanced Unreal Workflows
- Lecture: Lighting, Atmosphere, and Period Reconstruction
- Workshop: Mastering Lighting, Decal, and Quixel Megascans
- Lab: Create environmental lighting that matches historical mood (day/night, fog, etc.)
Week 6 – Interactivity and Blueprints
- Lecture: From Scene to Experience – Building Interaction in Unreal
- Workshop: Unreal Blueprints for triggers, movement, and simple interactions
- Lab: Create an interactive object or trigger zone (e.g., play sound)
Week 7 – Midterm Critique
- In-class: Presentation of progress on group and individual projects
- Peer + Instructor Feedback on historical accuracy, visual quality, and interactivity
- Workshop: Optimize scenes for Quest VR performance
Week 8 – Audio, Narrative & Spatial Storytelling
- Lecture: Sound as Memory – Integrating Audio Narratives
- Workshop: Implement 3D spatial audio and voice narration in Unreal
- Lab: Add sound cues tied to specific historical events or locations
Week 9 – VR Deployment for Quest
- Workshop: Unreal project packaging and optimization for Meta Quest 3
- Lab: Build and test interactive VR scenes on headsets
- Debug session: Frame rate, lighting, and control issues
- Milestone: Playable VR prototype
Week 10 -14 – working time
- Workshop: Optimize lighting and build levels for immersive storytelling
- Check-in: Instructor reviews individual and group progress
- Lab: Full-scale integration – environment, audio, and narrative flow
Week 15 – Final Exhibition & Reflection
- Public or in-class VR showcase: Historic Cincinnati in Virtual Reality
- Final critique and documentation
Reference
Previos courses taught using Unreal Engine for VR
Publications
Congratulations to XR-Lab Fellow Aayush Kumar on being awarded the 2026 Armstrong ASTRO Fellowship for the Discovery Program by the University of Cincinnati Office of Research.
Two UC teams won the second and third place and cash awards of 
