Heritage is a legacy that is remembered and passed on to future generations. Today, digital technology changes how these legacies are preserved, as heritage architecture can be virtually reconstructed using a range of technologies to record and represent buildings and sites. When a physical building becomes a virtual one, it is no longer constrained by the boundaries of reality, and can add to heritage sites that exist in the real world. With digital heritage, we no longer need to rely solely on physical buildings and places to understand and communicate heritage.  

In 2017, three Summer Research Scholars from Victoria University of Wellington’s Faculty of Architecture and Design examined how digital technology could offer new opportunities to access and explore New Zealand heritage architecture. The Gordon Wilson Flats, a heritage-listed building in Wellington, was used as a case study and Immersive Legacies is an exhibition that places this work within the wider context of digital heritage research. It recognises not only how the students developed their diverse range of skills, but also celebrates their contribution to the field of digital heritage. 

Immersive Legacies is an interactive exhibition that encourages people to play, look, listen and feel. This exhibition follows the making of digital heritage and showcases the possibilities presented by emerging technologies. In the field of digital heritage, researchers use different methods and tools to capture, record and communicate architectural heritage. Generating digital heritage involves three main phases: Stage One, or Documentation, collects information to form a body of recordings about the building; stage two, Representation, takes this information to create digital representations of the building; and finally, Stage Three, Dissemination, makes all material accessible in virtual reality. The outcomes of digital heritage facilitate accessibility and interpretation of heritage. Immersive Legacies presents this process in the context of 320 The Terrace and celebrates the opportunities granted by new technologies to enrich the representation and experience of historical architecture. 

Visitors are invited to explore what digital heritage offers, and to reflect on the role these technologies will play in recording heritage in the future, not only in Wellington, but in New Zealand and beyond.