AI-assisted generation of heritage-informed 3D assets from sketches and historical images

This paper presents a hybrid workflow for the artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted three-dimensional (3D) modelling of lost or fragmentarily documented architectural heritage assets from sketches, historical photographs and partial graphic references. The approach addresses cases in which conventional photogrammetry or 3D scanning cannot provide a complete record because the object has disappeared, survives only partially or is documented through indirect sources. The methodology is applied to three domestic heritage elements associated with the House of Amaro Pargo in Tenerife, Spain: a lookout window, an oven and a wooden trough. The workflow combines documentary interpretation, AI-assisted image generation and editing, image-to-3D mesh generation, manual geometric correction, texturing at the visual-reference stage and contextual integration in digital or physical outputs. The case studies compare different generative tools and evaluate the resulting models as interpretative assets rather than as metrically validated reconstructions, according to their correspondence with visible source features, visual plausibility, geometric and technical usability, mesh closure and suitability for digital visualisation or 3D printing. The results show that generative AI (GenAI) can support the production of preliminary 3D hypotheses, especially when the available evidence is incomplete and a complete metric restitution is not feasible. However, they also reveal limitations related to documentary uncertainty, variability between tools, hidden or ambiguous geometries, mesh errors and the need for manual review. The paper concludes that AI should not be understood as a substitute for rigorous surveying, photogrammetry, 3D scanning or expert modelling, but as an intermediate and revisable tool within a supervised workflow. Its main contribution lies in documenting the practical possibilities, recurrent limitations and manual interventions involved in transforming AI-generated outputs into usable 3D assets for the interpretation and visualisation of domestic heritage from fragmentary sources.