A photo of the face of a statue at Bayon temple from the library of the Bayon Digital Archive Project, led by Katsushi Ikeuchi of the University of Tokyo.
Credit: Bayon Digital Archive Project
Buildings collapse. Wind and rain beat them, temperatures cycle from freezing to blistering, and random strikes of lightning threaten sudden obliteration. Even more potent are the human challenges: war, fire, and deliberate destruction. But digital representations can survive such dangers, capturing structures forevermore.