Cornilly

Cornilly Abbey cannot be understood through its remaining buildings alone. Its spaces changed, disappeared or were repurposed over centuries. The project therefore had to do more than display a 3D model: it needed to reconnect the ruins, historical research and the visitor’s physical surroundings in an experience that could be understood in a few gestures.

The goal was to create an on-site interpretation tool that felt immediate to a general audience while preserving the complexity of the reconstruction. Augmented reality places the historical model directly on the exhibition illustration, making it possible to move naturally between an overview of the site and the story of each space.

The experience begins with a deliberately simple action: point the phone at the Cornilly 3D illustration. AR Foundation and ARCore recognize this physical image and anchor the reconstructed abbey to it. The printed medium is no longer just an explanatory panel; it becomes the tangible base of the digital model.

This approach gives the visitor a stable spatial reference. If tracking becomes limited, the model and controls are temporarily withdrawn and the guidance screen returns. As soon as the illustration is recognized again, the abbey reappears in place. The application therefore manages the full tracking lifecycle rather than treating image detection as a one-off effect.

The interface was designed for a landscape phone held in front of the illustration. A horizontal swipe rotates the abbey with inertia, while three zoom levels reveal the general plan or architectural details. Visitors can show or hide the reconstruction, toggle the points of interest, switch century, control narration and change language without leaving the AR view.

Selecting a marker isolates the relevant part of the abbey, moves it toward a dedicated reading area and opens its historical description. The rest of the model temporarily recedes so the visitor can connect a name, a function and a shape. Closing the panel restores the complete reconstruction and allows the exploration to continue.

A single static reconstruction would have hidden the main subject of Cornilly: its transformation. The application contains four configured states corresponding to the 12th, 14th, 16th and 21st centuries. Changing period does not merely swap a label; the system activates, hides and animates the relevant architectural parts and their available markers.

This makes comparison part of the interaction. Visitors can observe the construction, alteration and disappearance of spaces while keeping the same point of view. Where the historical evidence remains uncertain, the mediation content presents the reconstruction as a hypothesis rather than as an unquestionable image of the past.

The reconstruction is structured around 14 documented subjects: the cloister, bell tower, nave, transept, chapter house, prior’s quarters, courtyard, kitchens, refectory, library, monks, dovecote, agricultural buildings and garden. Each marker links the 3D geometry to a dedicated title, explanatory text and narration.

Together, these entries go beyond architectural description. They reveal how worship, governance, study, food, hospitality and agricultural production were organized across the site. The abbey becomes a functioning place again, rather than a collection of disconnected walls.

French, English and Spanish are supported throughout the experience. Interface labels, tutorial, credits and all historical texts are loaded from a shared localization table. Each point of interest also references a language-specific audio clip, so changing language updates both what is read and what is heard.

This content-driven architecture kept the 14 entries consistent across three languages and allowed historical and translation work to evolve without duplicating the interaction logic in Unity.

The central technical challenge was maintaining a clear and responsive experience around mobile image tracking. The project uses Unity 6, AR Foundation 6 and ARCore for detection, URP for mobile rendering, the Input System for touch interaction and DOTween for transitions.

The application reacts to tracking states, restores the correct historical configuration after reacquisition and coordinates model visibility, marker interactivity, zoom, rotation, information panels and audio. The same content also exists in a WebGL scene, requiring the exploration logic to remain usable outside the AR build.

Cornilly 3D was produced by a multidisciplinary team led by Transmissus. Rémy Lambert managed the project; Gabin Faucard combined 3D production with a background in history, archaeology and digital mediation; Ars Gallico created the exhibition illustration; Recordatio and heritage partners contributed to the site’s interpretation and documentary grounding.

My role covered Unity development and the integration of the interactive experience: image tracking, historical states, touch controls, points of interest, multilingual content and audio, interface behaviours, Android delivery and the WebGL version. The project’s quality depended on turning material from historians, artists and translators into one coherent visitor journey.