Constructing the historic villages of Shirakawa-go in virtual reality

In Japan, UNESCO has registered ten areas as world heritage sites; Shirakawa-go in northern Gifu Prefecture is one of them. The private houses in this region, called Gassho-zukuri, are isolated from the outside world. As a result, the houses exhibit a unique building design developed to endure the area's severe natural environment. A Gassho-zukuri is built with wooden beams combined to form a thatched roof that resembles two hands in prayer. To protect these world heritage sites and to educate the public about the region, it's necessary to preserve not only the site's natural environment and architectural structures but also its various unique cultural assets. However, the Shirakawa-go region is one of the few world heritage sites where people actually live, giving rise to several preservation problems to address while respecting the residents' privacy. Thus, preservation through virtual reality (VR) is very important. From this viewpoint, we examined the necessary procedures and techniques for digitization of external views and cultural aspects of Shirakawa-go by using VR technology. We also reconstructed the Shirakawa-go area in 3D.