Archvum

Archvum is a hypothetical open-source framework for archiving and exploring architectural knowledge. It aims to support long-term preservation, cross-media discovery, and interoperable access to architectural records, including drawings, photographs, 3D models, theses, project briefs, and institutional reports. The term blends concepts from archival practice with the scale of volumetric collections, emphasizing structured curation, provenance, and user-friendly navigation across complex datasets.

Its data model centers on entities such as Work, Person, Organization, Location, and Project, with relationships connecting drawings to revisions, photographs to locations, and models to publications. Metadata is conceived as linked data, typically expressed in RDF or JSON-LD and aligned with standards such as Dublin Core, CIDOC CRM, and PREMIS. The platform supports versioning, rights management, access controls, and annotations, along with advanced search, faceted browsing, and visualizations of scholarly networks.

Archvum is described primarily as a conceptual framework in scholarly and professional discourse, rather than a single released product. Proposals emphasize openness, modularity, and interoperability, enabling export to existing heritage management systems and BIM workflows through defined APIs and data schemas. The emphasis on provenance and licensing aims to address challenges of authenticity and reuse in architectural archives.

Adoption would be strongest in academic libraries, museums, and digital humanities projects that manage heterogeneous collections. By enabling cross-collection linking and standardized metadata, archvum seeks to facilitate research, teaching, and preservation while supporting community contributions and sustainable stewardship of architectural heritage.