When: Wednesday, 5 November 2025, 10:30
Where: Vienna City Hall, Vienna, Austria
Session with Laurence Crouzet on the topic of „The Past of New Technologies. Shaping cultural heritage and research futures“ at the 30th Conference on Cultural Heritage and New Technologies (CHNT)
The transition to digital architecture has revolutionized design and fabrication processes, yet it has introduced profound challenges in preserving born-digital artifacts. This paper explores the complexities of maintaining digital architectural heritage, emphasizing the inadequacy of current preservation frameworks to address the transience, obsolescence, and fragmentation of digital data. Drawing on architectural theory and digital archival practices, this essay critiques traditional conservation models that prioritize material authenticity, arguing for a shift toward strategies centered on transfer and reuse. Theoretical perspectives from figures such as Ruskin, Viollet-le-Duc, and Brandi are revisited to contextualize evolving attitudes toward transformation and authenticity. The hybrid nature of digital and physical architecture demands interdisciplinary approaches that recognize the embedded value of design logic, fabrication data, and processual information. International charters and national strategies, including UNESCO’s Charter on the Preservation of the Digital Heritage and Switzerland’s Digital Strategy, are analyzed to highlight gaps in guidance and criteria for digital preservation. The paper advocates for selective preservation, curatorial decision-making, and the concept of weeding to manage data overload. Ultimately, it proposes that digital preservation should embrace transformation as a form of stewardship, enabling future adaptation while respecting the layered significance of architectural heritage. This reframing positions damages or absences not as loss, but as a space for creative intervention and continuity.