Los Angeles, California – October 10, 2026 – Across the vast grasslands and villages of Inner Mongolia, a dedicated team can often be seen traversing local temples, ancient pagodas, and historical relic sites with 3D scanning equipment. They capture precise data to record the contours and intricate details of age-old architectures.This is the architectural heritage conservation team of Inner Mongolia University of Technology, titled Living in the Moment: Digital Guardians of Grassland Architectural and Cultural Heritage. Composed of 14 members including master’s and doctoral students in architecture and academic advisors, the team has rooted itself in grassland areas for over two decades, committing to scientific research and practical development planning for rural and pastoral regions.
Led by team leader Gao Min, the group has dedicated 12 years to grassroots fieldwork across 11 cities, conducting in-depth investigations into more than 800 architectural heritage sites. Using digital technology as their medium, they have compiled permanent cultural archives for the scattered architectural treasures across the grasslands.
Gao Min, Lead of the Architectural Heritage Conservation Team
The team’s enduring dedication stems from the guidance and long-standing commitment of Professor He Long. In her early academic years, under Professor He’s supervision, Gao Min participated in extensive field surveys across the grasslands. She witnessed firsthand how numerous precious architectures carrying ethnic memories gradually deteriorated under natural erosion and the passage of time. These immersive field experiences solidified her research focus on the conservation of local architectural heritage and laid the unwavering original aspiration that has guided the team’s scholarly pursuits all along.
Early Remains of Ancient Pagodas
Inner Mongolia boasts a vast territory, with its architectural heritage scattered across grasslands, mountain forests and gobi deserts. Covering a wide range of categories including Liao-dynasty pagodas, nomadic settlements, religious buildings and traditional residential compounds, most of these heritage sites are located in remote areas with no systematic archival records, making their conservation far more challenging than that of architectures in plain regions. Over the past decade, the team has traveled to nearly all banners, counties and villages home to preserved historical buildings across the region. They conduct detailed mapping under scorching summer heat and collect field data in bitter winter cold. For inaccessible locations with poor transportation, they travel on foot; faced with heavy survey equipment, they carry it by hand and shoulder. To date, the team has completed digital data collection and archival documentation for hundreds of architectural heritage sites.
Field Surveys on the Grasslands
“Every architectural site bears witness to a chapter of ethnic integration. Delaying documentation even for a day may result in irreversible damage,” said Gao Min. In her view, digital heritage conservation is far more than simple photography and archiving; it aims to fully preserve the architectural form, craftsmanship, materials and underlying cultural values of ancient buildings. Abandoning rigid technical models adopted from developed regions, she and her team have deeply integrated 3D laser scanning, Heritage Building Information Modeling (HBIM) and other digital technologies with local architectural characteristics, tailored to Inner Mongolia’s unique alpine, arid and windy geographical conditions. The team has developed a set of targeted digital conservation methods suited to grassland environments, establishing a complete “digital ID card” for each heritage site that encompasses geometric data, historical records and traditional construction techniques.
Digital Documentation of Liao-Dynasty Pagodas
With more than a decade of in-depth research, the team has covered the full spectrum of architectural heritage, ranging from individual historic structures to urban and rural settlements, filling multiple gaps in the digital conservation of architectural heritage across Inner Mongolia. These digital achievements provide accurate data support for subsequent cultural relic restoration and heritage accreditation, while unlocking new potential for the revitalization of historic villages and towns as well as the development of cultural and tourism industries. Through digital restoration, online exhibitions and other innovative approaches, numerous ancient grassland architectures once hidden in remote wilderness areas have entered public view, emerging as new carriers for inheriting and promoting the ethnic cultures ofInner Mongolia.
On-site VR Experience: Digital Reconstruction of Architectural Heritage
Meanwhile, adhering to the philosophy of “conducting research right on the grasslands”, the team has combined academic research with grassroots outreach by delivering heritage conservation popular science and technical training. It cultivates local craftsmen and professional conservation talents, enabling sustainable grassroots forces for architectural heritage protection to take firm root in the grassland areas. From following senior researchers in the early days to leading the persistent field efforts today, Gao Min and her team have always kept in mind the instructions from Academician Zhang Pengju. “Architectural heritage embodies warm cultural memories. Every day of our perseverance helps preserve more historical roots for the grasslands.”
Architectural Heritage Conservation Team: Living in the Moment — Digital Guardians of Grassland Architectural and Cultural Heritage
Looking ahead, this grassland-based team will continue to traverse the landscapes of northern Inner Mongolia. It will integrate more cutting-edge digital technologies into heritage conservation practices, sustain the architectural cultural lineage through digital means, and empower the ancient grassland architectural heritage to thrive with enduring vitality in the new era.
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