Decoding the 'DNA' of historic buildings

In the ancient village of Zhaji, even the summer heat of July in south Anhui could not stop the students from the "Qingzhu" service team of Anhui University of Science and Technology. They came here to study and record the historic buildings of Huizhou architecture on a research event. This activity has already been going on for years, and the data collected play a vital role in the preservation and restoration of these cultural heritage.

On the morning of July 15, the young conservators began this day's work in Zhaji's Baogong ancestral shrine, which can be traced back to over 590 years ago. The entire survey of the shrine has already lasted for over 10 days.

"The first step we need to do is to draw sketches of elevation, section and plan views of the shrine's structure, followed by measuring the exact size of each part of the buildings in the shrine. After that, the information collected will be organized and processed by computers to generate standard engineering drawings." said one of the students. "Our job can be described as decoding and digitizing the 'DNA' of the historic buildings so that they can be restored to their original condition according to the records in case of unexpected damage."

During the research event, the 75 team members not only completed the surveying and modeling of a multitude of ancient ancestral halls and residential houses in the Zhaji, but also conducted interviews of oral history in the village, enriching the cultural values of the old buildings.

Since its establishment 6 years ago, the "Qingzhu" service team has participated in 148 field investigations of ancient villages and buildings, held over 40 symposia and seminars with local government officials, villagers and conservation units, submitted 25 research reports, and produced more than 750 digital drawings and more than 1600 on-site free hand sketches. Their efforts contribute greatly to the preservation of historic buildings in Anhui in terms of the extensive and solid data they provide. (Photo by Fan Bowen, Chen Xiaozhu)