Throughout the world, historical buildings are fading away due to factors such as gentrification, natural disasters, and war. This puts the rich history that they contain in jeopardy. Additionally, it is very expensive and time consuming to manually preserve the building, leading to debates over whether or not the preservation of historical buildings is even necessary. In recent years, some have posited the idea of digital restoration in order to more efficiently preserve these buildings, but I believe this process can be further streamlined. I aim to answer if the digital restoration historical buildings using cutting-edge technologies such as virtual 3D modeling and artificial intelligence (AI) is possible.

My only experience with historical preservation comes from my work with the community of Alviso in San Jose. Since the 10th grade, I have been working with my onsite advisor and members of the Alviso community to preserve their history, mainly through a documentary about Thomas Foon Chew, who was a very important figure in the community's history. This led me to his old Bayside Canning Company building, a historically significant building that is very out of shape and will most likely be damaged beyond repair within the next 5 years. This project was born out of a desire to save that building. I have already made a prototype of the building, but it is very un-detailed, basic, and unpolished. Thats why I want to use AI to streamline and improve the model.

I will start off with some library and internet research to better understand the technology I will be working with. I will then begin prototyping some models to test said technology out. My goal is to have the "endangered eight" all digitally modeled and put online by the end of the three months. I will break down my research into 12 weeks. Weeks 1 and 2 will be used to understand the technology I need to 3d model buildings with AI. Week 3 will be used to do a test model of my house. Week 4 will be used to troubleshoot and improve on the model. From then on, every week will be dedicated to 3d modeling one of the "endangered eight" buildings, as I should have all the tools I need to streamline the process.