Fall NEARC 2024

The African Building Heritage Project is an international and multidisciplinary initiative involving scholars from the United States and Benin. The American team comprises Killion Mokwete (Architecture), Patricia Davis (Communications/Cultural Studies), Jessica Parr (History/Archives), Bahare Sanaie-Movahed (GIS Specialist), Halima Haruna (History PhD Student), Gavin Gershman (Architecture Undergraduate Student), and Sophie Legget (GIS Co-op).

This project focuses on producing 3D models of historically significant, at-risk sub-Saharan African buildings using LIDAR data obtained from a LEICA handheld scanner and a drone. These buildings are georeferenced, and attribute information is collected on-site using Survey123. The results are incorporated into a searchable web database using the ArcGIS Online suite. This geospatial archive leverages technology for preservation and access, promoting the study of African architecture and preserving digital facsimiles of buildings threatened by climate change, resource limitations, and other challenges.

In December 2023 and June 2024, our team traveled to Porto Novo, Benin, as our project’s pioneering site, where we scanned five buildings, including a nineteenth-century mosque built by Afro-Brazilian returnees. Benin holds cultural and intellectual significance for Haitians and the broader African Diaspora.

Our NEARC presentation will cover the project's conception and introduce the African Built Heritage hub. Due to varying travel and research schedules, some team members may contribute their parts of the presentation via pre-recorded comments or Zoom.

Keywords: Digital Cultural Heritage, African Architecture, GIS, Cultural Preservation, 3D Modeling, Digital Archives, ArcGIS Hub, ArcGIS Dashboard, ArcGIS Survey123, ArcGIS StoryMap, Education.