Alhambra code: Decoding historical architecture through AI
Authors: Ghaith Kholoud 
Published: September 2024

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; line-height: 120%; mso-pagination: none; layout-grid-mode: char; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; margin: 12.0pt 0cm 6.0pt 147.4pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 120%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">AI goes back in time and decodes the meaning of historical architecture&middot; Emerging advances in artificial intelligence (AI) are revolutionizing our ability to learn from the material record and write more accurate and enriched past histories. The article &lsquo;Alhambra Code: Decoding historical architecture Through AI&rsquo; explores how merging biologically inspired machine learning technologies with the detailed study of historical architecture can help us learn new things about the deep patrimonial past at Alhambra, a UNESCO world heritage site renowned for its exquisite Islamic architecture and Andalusian culture. Alhambra is a paragon of monumental symbolism, a mind-boggling enigma to modern-day humans. Through a novel methodology that leverages a combination of high-resolution imaging, 3D scanning, and cognitive computing&mdash;algorithms that simulate natural intelligence with pattern recognition and task AI&mdash;we have decoded repetitive architectural patterns and inscriptions hidden between the walls, revealing the cultural and historical narratives of this celebrated site.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 120%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 120%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The work has matched many of these results to Alhambra&rsquo;s known historical timeline elements. Still, it has also identified disparities, indicating richer interchanges of cultural influences and architectural styles among the idealized phases recognized from the historical record. These interpretations suggest a more complex layering of influences, along with subtle shifts in material sourcing and building techniques over time, which would otherwise have been missed, such as an extension of painted and inlaid tiles from a later, known phase into an earlier period that was not previously known to have employed them. This new knowledge emerges from an organized bioinformatics technique, which shows us how a style previously understood as synchronous, static, and uniform from year to year demonstrates relatively modest variation throughout the Nasrid dynasty. These stresses and variations can be inferred through AI-derived transformations of Alhambra&rsquo;s ornamental repertoire.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 120%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 120%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Looking beyond the visible, the AI could reveal degradation patterns and help rebuild former architectural intentions. The research builds the case that AI can transform the preservation of historical sites and our future. The article anticipates where the future of heritage management might be going, a future that is sustainable, efficient, and beautiful. It brilliantly re-establishes Alhambra&rsquo;s architectural and aesthetic authority, proving that the conservation at the site connects past architectural grandeur with future conservation strategies. The piece goes on to project a new landscape in the stewardship of heritage that is visionary, informed, adaptive, and technologically integrated. It is exciting to witness the cadence and rhythm of a new era beginning in our stewardship of global cultural heritage.</span></p>