Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design

Varsha Ajith

College of Engineering

Architectural Engineering

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Glen Muschio Digital Media

Dr. Nicholas Jushchyshyn Co-Mentor

Reviving the Past Using Virtual Reality

The Architecture and Engineering disciplines are interconnected and constantly evolving. The problem investigated here is how to best use available textual knowledge, research, and archeological evidence to imagine and recreate Philadelphia structures no longer standing, using Virtual Reality software. This type of investigation is necessary, in the present, when there is a need to understand and propagate stories from historical sources.

My project is based on the late 18th century Philadelphia row home of James Oronoko Dexter, a manumitted slave, and vital member of the early Free African Society. Through this Digital Cultural Heritage project, which demanded engineering solutions, architectural insight and problem-solving, and digital media software skills, my team and I aimed to build a virtual era-accurate row home to allow users to navigate the space, using the Oculus Rift, and experience some of the important events and meetings held in the historic house.

To create the model and furnishings, my main sources were journals and books, insurance records of the house, and archaeological excavation results. We consulted with experts such as an architecture historian, an archaeologist, and a museum curator, and with their guidance, made several site visits to architecturally similar houses built before and during the era of the Dexter house. With this project, my team and I aspire to shine light on an overlooked part of Philadelphia’s past critical in not only the formation of the present African American community, but also to the wider Philadelphia cultural heritage.