Something from the future in the heart of Ermoupolis

her palace From the Koi family in her heart ArmopolisWith its facade crowned by an impressive gradient and interior adorned with a marble staircase and elaborate frescoes, it is one of 1,290 neoclassical buildings in the Cycladic capital that can turn a casual stroll through its narrow streets into a visit to an open-air architectural museum. In the large central hall of the palace, something from the future is coming these days to talk to the past.

It is about a Augmented Reality Application (AR – Augmented Reality) which was implemented by Aegean University and draws inspiration from the majestic ceiling drawing of the majestic living room of the old city house. An exquisite portrait, designed with exquisite detail and technique, is like depicting a dreamlike planetarium, as in the coffered domes of churches. Heroes In composition, eight gods from antiquity (Zeus, Hermes, Themis, Apollo, Demeter, Athena, Poseidon and Artemis) and four heroes from the Greek Revolution (Regas Frios, Kariskakis, Kolokotronis and Kanaris) stand in line. As Pavlos Schatzegregorio, from the Department of Product and System Design Engineering at Aegean University, told us: “Using a tablet camera, we can detect digital figures in some corners of the living room talking to each other, for example Hermes and Kolokotronis, who descended from above and came back to life, and now discuss how they are together in the same painting. In another corner appear the Prosecutor and the Governor, two protagonists taken from the “Great Illusion” by M. Karagatsis, while in another place we see the great-grandmother of a family Koi and Vafiadakis, the longest-serving mayor of neoclassical Hermoupoli, discuss what it was like for refugees to come from Chios two hundred years ago and to find a new place for yourself. Through these folktales, the visitor gets a good taste of what Ermoupolis was like during its great prosperity and gains an essential first insight into the nature and history of the island.”

“The visitor gets a basic first impression of the nature and history of the island,” says Pavlos Chatzigregorio of the University of the Aegean.

Using the application in practice, we observe that these 3D digital models look completely realistic, and their motion and speech are generated using the latest “motion capture” technology from a research project of the Aegean University of Syros, specifically the Interactive Systems Design Laboratory under the guidance of Professors Damianos Gavalas and Spyros Vosinakis and researchers Dimitris Baltas and Elianas Theo. The project is funded by the NSRF’s “Regional Excellence” program and among its goals is to present digital characters, their appearance, movement and speech as natural and realistic as possible. “It is also a program that has a lot to do with how tourism can be enhanced in the South Aegean region through these innovations,” P. Hatzigrigoriou tells us, adding: “The fact that this experience does not need any additional technology to activate it, other than a tablet computer, is of particular importance. In the future, an ordinary cell phone will suffice.”

In parallel with the launch of the application, the Koi family, which maintains an optical shop in part of the building, is organizing an eyewear design competition with the participation of university students. All the entrances (glasses printed on a 3D printer) were shown for a few days inside the old palace, under the impressive ceiling painting. The proposal that appeared first, in fact, will go into real production, entering the market. Thus, digital application and competition are two aspects of the same partnership between the academic and research community with the local community and the market.

“The student-designed glasses and digital app show what can happen if local entrepreneurship collaborates with Syros’ academic and student community,” says P. Hatzigrigoriou. In the city of Mercury, trade and commercial transactions and their connection to culture have always been an important part of the ethos of the place.