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McMahon Hall, an iconic Brutalist dormitory at the University of Washington, has become the site of an interdisciplinary experiment in cultural memory and machine-assisted storytelling. This article presents a method that combines remote sensing with AI-generated voices to produce a polyvocal narrative of architecture through the perspective of the building itself, its material (concrete), an architect, a journalist, and a bird. Drone photogrammetry and generated 3D models were combined with generative AI (text, image, and voice) to reconstruct the site digitally and imaginatively (AI-driven speculative narratives). Through speculative storytelling, the article and the project explore how cultural memory and perception of built heritage can be augmented by machines, offering plural perspectives that challenge singular historical narratives. The Introduction situates the work at the intersection of digital heritage documentation, AI storytelling, epistemology in machine learning, and spatial computing, emphasizing the perception of heritage through different actors. The Theoretical Framework draws on literature in photogrammetry for heritage preservation, polyvocal narrative, and knowledge frameworks of AI. The Materials and Methods detail the workflow: capturing McMahon Hall via UAV photogrammetry, producing a 3D model, and generating character-driven narratives with large language models and voice synthesis. The resulting multi-voiced narrative and its thematic insights are described. In the Discussion, the implications of this approach for architectural heritage interpretation are considered, including its capacity to amplify diverse voices and the risks of bias or hyperreality in AI-generated narratives. The study argues that this polyvocal, machine-augmented storytelling expands the toolkit of remote sensing and digital heritage by not only documenting the tangible form of the built environment but also speculating on its intangible cultural memory. The Conclusions reflect on how merging spatial computing techniques with AI narratives can support new modes of engagement with architecture, positioning this work as a building block toward richer human-machine co-created heritage experiences.

This paper explores the value of imperfections and curated decay in the conservation of architecture and public art as vehicles of cultural memory. While conventional heritage practice treats physical degradation as a threat, newer conservation ethics argue for embracing material impermanence within an aesthetics of care. We examine how acknowledging patina, weathering, and even structural decline can become an act of care, maintaining the “spirit” and authenticity of a place. The theoretical framework integrated the aesthetics of imperfection, including concepts like the Japanese wabi-sabi, which finds beauty in the incomplete and impermanent, critical heritage theory (which questions whose memories and values are preserved or excluded) and cultural memory studies (notably Nora’s notion of lieux de mémoire, where material sites become symbolic elements of communal memory). Methodologically, the article is grounded by two case-study video essays, Imperfections (Genoa) and Scars (Nicosia), as instruments of research, which provide visual analyses of decayed architectural environments. These examples illustrate how curated decay can transform abandoned buildings and war-scarred urban zones into powerful mnemonic devices, provoking reflection on history, identity and the ethics of preservation. Despite extensive theorisation of patina/age-value and curated decay, recent heritage debates offer limited operational criteria for distinguishing intentional curated decay from unmanaged neglect in lived urban conservation contexts. Drawing on ethics and aesthetics of care, this article asks if and how care can be operationalised into a decision framework for urban conservation and tests this framework through two selected buildings: Albergo dei Poveri (Genoa) and Home for Cooperation (Nicosia). The authors argue that caring for heritage does not always mean restoring it to an as-new state; curating ageing and traces of time can support remembrance, resilience, and reconciliation, enriching heritage’s role in future urban imaginaries.

Mid-century Brutalist buildings are frequently documented as objects of form, yet their contested reception and lived memory are less often addressed in architectural education. This article analyses the results of an interdisciplinary experiment centred on McMahon Hall during the summer school Rhetorical Machine + the Hyperlocal at the University of Washington. The method pairs UAV and close-range photogrammetry with a retrieval-augmented, persona-based generative AI workflow to produce a polyvocal narrative grounded in curated site-specific sources. The article argues that this combined method offers a transferable pedagogical model through which students can document both the measurable and intangible dimensions of the built environment while developing technical, interpretive, and ethical competencies.

Architectural styles had a cyclic pattern throughout the history of humanity, however their recurrence was intentional, educated, having more to do with the taste of a society or a group of individuals than with their basic needs. Vernacular architecture emerged as a response to the needs of people and was a collective product, not the masterpiece of an architect. It emerged from the local building techniques and construction material availability, as well as climatic, economic and socio-politic conditions. Underground vernacular dwellings, depending on the location, appeared as an answer to one or several of the conditions and needs mentioned earlier. Their course through history offered them possibilities of reinvention, especially in times of economic crises. After several studies and simulations, we observed that this typology offers more benefits than just the thermal ones for which they are best known. This paper aims to present other advantages found in houses inspired from vernacular underground homes since eco-friendly and green design are important directions in contemporary architecture. It will also try to address the misconception that shadows them as they are frequently perceived as dark, damp, poor and dangerous habitats.

After the fall of the Communist regime the Romanian urban spaces experienced an expansion like never before. Cities doubled and tripled their size in an unsustainable manner. In the majority of cases the additional surface of the cities was developed with residential individual units or apartment buildings. This was easy to explain since it was supported by the general desire of Romanians to own their home. The theoretical research identified housing models that are respectful to the environment and image of the contemporary city. However, in the same time there is an overwhelming number of residential constructions with no architectural and aesthetic quality or built infrastructure. Many of them were constructed without an issued building permit, others found ways to go around the existing construction laws and local building regulations, thus their value and the quality of the perceived space is at least questionable, chipping the image of streets, even neighbourhoods. The study was conducted in order to identify suitable models of residential developments in oversized post-communist urban settlements.

Finding environmentally friendly spaces in the built surroundings is becoming more and more difficult. The growth of population and thus the expansion of the constructed environment is on an ascending path and the overpopulated metropolises of the world have to deal with slum like suburbs, squatted abandoned buildings and overcrowded city cores. Underground, buried or earth-sheltered examples of constructions prove, from the early history of architecture and regardless of the reasons that justified their design or solution, that there was a preoccupation in veiling the artificial into the nature. Camouflaging the buildings by covering them with a layer of soil and vegetation or even sinking them into the ground enhances the so much needed green space. The theoretical research identified typologies of underground architecture that qualify as sustainable in a world where building became a race for breaking records in construction. The study was conducted in order to reveal a suitable alternative to a congested urbanized world.

Post-communist Romanian residential areas look like mushrooms after a good rain. They grew randomly or in clusters, extremely diverse and equally poisonous. The theoretical research identified housing models that not only use the earth as a warm protective blanket, but as a way to pay respect to the environment. Covering a house with soil and grass or sinking it into the ground is less violent to the eye, provides a healthier environment for its inhabitants and offers new possibilities in landscape design. Besides the environmental advantages, the approach can provide local identity and affiliation. The study was conducted in order to identify the possibility of implementation of a vernacular typology of housing in the contemporary society.

The changes in the surrounding environment, the constant search for new ways to decrease the consumption of natural resources reflect not only in the way live or eat but in the way we build our homes. The theoretical research revealed that the model of underground or semi-buried houses can represent a potential solution in the context of today's residential necessities. The theoretical experiments have shown that the houses in contact with the earth behave considerably better than the conventional ones, at least in terms of heat loss. Closer to the present day we can identify that the contemporary model of underground and semi-buried houses has a more frequent occurrence during economic crisis. We are still facing such a situation, thus the actuality of the subject is recognizable. The study was conducted in order to address the lack of regulations in what concerns the house typology in discussion as well as some erroneous information that affect the reality of their efficiency in terms of thermal resistance and energy consumption.