AR Applied to the Tactile Models. Museo di Arte Orientale in Turin: Communicating the Vaulted System of Palazzo Mazzonis

In the last decades, museums, fundamental cultural institutions of modern society, have been dealing with the innovation of methods and tools for the communication and dissemination of knowledge. This brought important changes in their approach involving visitors. One of the most common approaches to creating interactive content in the museum field is the use of extended reality technologies and direct haptic experiences that can support storytelling and interaction. By combining the virtual and real worlds, XR can stimulate different senses by adding digital input and expanding knowledge transmission channels. In the museum field, there still needs to be real and shared awareness of how to make virtual and real content interact and how to design the best experience for cultural transmission. The presented case study is focused on the vaulted system of the atrium of Palazzo Mazzonis in Turin, the seat of Museum of Oriental Art on which a structured and well-tested methodology of geometric decomposition and digital reconstruction has been applied. The AR and a 3D digital fabricated model have been used to explicit this study to a wide public, with different purposes ranging from research, dissemination, tourism, and recreation.