The African Building Heritage Project: A Praxis in New Media as Memory

The African Building Heritage Project is a collaborative and interdisciplinary project between Northeastern University and L'Ecole du Patrimoine African in Porto Novo, Benin. It leverages LiDAR scanning, 3D modeling, geospatial technology, and social storytelling to document at-risk sub-Saharan African buildings. This presentation will focus on the development of the prototype from fieldwork in Porto Novo, Benin in December 2023 and June 2024. The project began with 6 buildings in Porto Novo, including the Grand Mosque built by Afro-Brazilian returners (Aguda) between 1912-1925.  The Mosque is in a precarious state due to damage caused by climate change and other factors. During the two trips, the team also scanned The Homne Museum (palace of the Kings of Porto Novo), Zangbeto Temple, the campus of the L'Ecole du Patrimoine African, as well as some vodun temples. The buildings were scanned using a surface scanner for the walls, and a drone for the rooflines, and then the scans were merged into a single model, and will be attached to an ArcGIS hub.