Virtual Scientific Models

Digital reconstructions are an important medium to open results of research to the public. The main potential of such reconstructions is that they give an opportunity to present the research in different ways. Besides this, during the last five years, digital reconstruction as a crossing point of various scientific disciplines, like architecture, history of architecture and archaeology, has become more and more a tool for researchers. By bringing the results of excavations into the third dimension they consolidate the knowledge of these disciplines. Serious questions or unclear situations of a building structure can be easier discussed and often be solved. This paper shows the potential of digital reconstructions as a tool for research at different stations of the research process and provides an insight into the research in this special part of the cultural heritage. The special potentials of this researching method are demonstrated on digital reconstruction projects done at the Technical University of Darmstadt over the last 20 years. Besides this, the paper takes a critical look into the future of the digital reconstruction as a researching tool, the chances and the risks of this method.