"Alchi and Chamba" stand for two different social and cultural environments. While Alchi is a Buddhist compound located in the arid high-altitude desert climate of Ladakh, Chamba is a province on the southern subtropical slopes of the Himalayan range and is almost exclusively Brahmanic.
Although the architectural and artistic responses of the two different religious systems to philosophy and climate differ significantly from each other, the major goals for our research remain the same. Based on the data collected during field research, we deal with the fundamental questions regarding building typology, meaning, and religious content.
In the second step, we decide how to process, present, share, and archive the data. In particular, we approach the topics from an architectural angle and make the 3D-model the starting point of the digital workflow as well as its final outcome. We raise questions about how digital methods can be applied to visualise research data and results through what we call a “knowledge model” derived from the architectural model. We will explain how the respective intellectual background and the state of research impact the strategy of digital dissemination of research results. Naturally, the studies of the monuments of Alchi and Chamba led to different solutions. The fact that we arrive at individual ways of presenting will also allow us to touch upon the topic of Heritage Building Information Systems (HBIM).