Visiting Associate Professor of Practice Bryan Clark Green and alumnus Michael Cavicchio (Class of 2025) recently presented at the Society of Architectural Historians' 2025 Virtual Conference.

Their session examined the critical role of digital technologies in preserving architectural heritage and cultural memory in conflict zones, with a particular focus on Ukraine during the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War. As cultural landmarks face systematic destruction, architects, historians, and preservationists increasingly rely on tools such as 3D scanning, augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR) to document, interpret, and memorialize what is at risk of being lost.

Bryan Clark Green opened the session with an overview of historic recording technologies and contemporary applications of 3D technologies for documenting cultural losses during wartime, framing the session's central questions. Michael Cavicchio then presented his thesis project, A Museum in Exile, a digital reconstruction of the Mariupol Theatre in Donetsk, destroyed in 2022. The project serves as both a virtual memorial and a case study in how VR can sustain cultural memory when physical access is impossible.

"Michael's work is not only technically accomplished," says Green, who was Cavicchio's thesis advisor, "but it demonstrates how cultural losses in distant regions can be addressed using modest budgets, widely available technologies, and creating networks of colleagues.

This project exemplifies the meaningful impact Virginia Tech students can have on the built environment, including sites threatened by ongoing conflict and war."