baureka.online.
A Repository for Building Archaeology

(DFG-funding 2021-2024)

The principal goal of the project baureka.online is the development of a comprehensive digital platform designed to connect researchers engaged in the study of Building Archaeology and related disciplines. As a fact- and object-oriented field of study, Building Archaeology tends to focus on single objects which form the focal points of study and research. Projects in this particular field of study tend to be less well-grounded in the digital disciplines than those of many other archaeological disciplines. This is all the more unfortunate since Building Archaeology possesses undeniable methodic relevance – especially in the context of the "material turn" – and uses various digital resources as a matter of course.

In particular, there is a lack of specifically-developed online portals which meet the requirements of the Semantic Web. Such portals can utilize the full potential of digital work processes for the purposes of cross-project analyses and evaluation, can position the scientific discipline of Building Archaeology as a productive field of study within transdisciplinary research contexts, and enable synergies between researchers, state offices for the preservation of historical monuments and independent architects.

It is therefore a main goal of the project to create a web-based portal which explicitly answers these unmet needs. It will operate on a modular system and will be open to the suggestions and recommendations of the scientific community. During the first funding period, a cross-institutional reference catalogue will be established (baureka.index), which will form the cornerstone and the main address for requests for research data within the field of Building Archaeology.

The platform will also offer the possibility of storing primary research data and providing it to a wide user group online, who may use it for subsequent research projects (baureka.storage). As a consequence of this, an integral part of the project is the development of specific metadata standards, suitable for access to and exchange of digital architectural documention. Just as important is the creation of appropriate interfaces which can form an optimized basis for the synergy of different aspects of science and planning – as well as those concerning historical heritage preservation – when dealing with concerns of architectural and cultural heritage.
During the second funding period, we plan to expand the portal by integrating a data journal, which will enable Building Archaeologists to publish selected data sets in a comprehensive and suitable manner (baureka.publications).

The project is being realized with the co-operation of the Department of Architectural and Urban History at TU Berlin and the FIZ Karlsruhe – Leibniz Institute for Information Infrastructure.

More information about the project can be found on the project website. If you are interested in our newsletter, you can subscribe here.