"Insurance" for heritage

At the ceremony announcing national intangible cultural heritage and the decision to rank historical and cultural relics at the city level in Ho Chi Minh City at the end of March, Portcoast Consulting Joint Stock Company donated all digitized products of the City Theater to the Ho Chi Minh City Arts Center.

Báo Sài Gòn Giải phóng•07/04/2025

This event has attracted considerable attention from cultural heritage researchers. Faced with the challenges of time, architectural structures over 100 years old require "insurance" that not only addresses the digitization of heritage but also helps restore the structure to its original form in case of unforeseen circumstances.

Beyond Virtual 360 and 3D building models, Portcoast has applied digital technology to the City Theatre using Heritage Building Information Modeling (H-BIM). This technology, encouraged globally by UNESCO, enables managers to effectively implement heritage site digitization projects and preserve the cultural values of humanity.

Accordingly, part of the work in the H-BIM model involves using 3D laser scanning to recreate each sculpted pattern, the characteristic curved roof with the relief of two angels and a lyre, typical of Greek mythology, and even the walls bearing the marks of time. Thanks to this, the magnificent space of the City Theatre is accurately preserved, serving both conservation and future architectural research purposes.

Mr. Tran Tan Phuc, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Portcoast, analyzed: “Virtual 360 and 3D models of exhibited artifacts are useful tools, helping viewers experience heritage in a visual and vivid way, even when they cannot visit in person. However, these tools cannot replace assessing the current state of the building, identifying issues that need preservation, and determining appropriate restoration and preservation solutions. Meanwhile, using 3D laser scan data to create H-BIM models helps to accurately identify details, thereby making reconstruction or restoration easier and more accurate to the original model of the building.”

In reality, digitizing heritage is a trend in the development of the 4.0 era; however, modern technology needs to be chosen appropriately to ensure that centuries-old or millennia-old values are fully "insured" against the challenges of time.

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/bao-hiem-cho-di-san-post789515.html