A new course being taught to undergraduate students this semester at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa School of Architecture is helping preservationists on Maui document lost heritage structures using the same AI-augmented 3D modeling technology that was previously incorporated into the rebuilding of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris.

Co-taught by Dean William Chapman, Associate Professor Hyoung-June Park, and visiting Assistant Professor Kyung Hoon Hyun of South Korea’s Hanyang University, ARCH 490: Rebuilding Lahaina in Mixed Reality offers students the chance to aid in the recovery efforts by creating digital versions of lost buildings such as the Baldwin House, Wo Hing Society Hall, and Old Lahaina Courthouse. 

"We want students to expand their creativity to think of more than simply rebuilding what was destroyed, but also what they can do with this new 3D model that they created," Hyun explained to Hawaii Public Radio recently. "They can add values or communal experiences within the community of Lahaina."

The rebuilding of Maui after last summer’s devastating wildfires has required an enormous effort from multiple state and local entities and included a deployment from Shigeru Ban's Voluntary Architects' Network (VAN) in December. 

"This course is helping us become more aware of how relevant and important all this technology is going to be used and how relevant and important it is in the future," one student said. Their findings were later unpacked to a slate of local architects and experts from the Hawaiʻi State Preservation Department. 

A virtual phase animation of the digital technology can be viewed below.