Five commitments guide everything Tohu Heritage does. Each began as a single line in a statement of purpose, and each deserves more room than that.
01 · Transform built cultural and heritage assets into interactive 3D models
It starts with the buildings themselves. Old photographs matter. They're often the only link we have to how a heritage place once looked, and they carry real historical value in their own right. Tohu Heritage's first and most direct commitment is adding to that record, not replacing it: turning these places into permanent, photorealistic 3D documentation anyone can explore, from a phone or laptop, no software or specialist equipment required. Clark House in Hobsonville, a Heritage New Zealand Category 1 listed building, was the first proof of concept: fully documented and freely explorable.
02 · Organise heritage asset data into structured, lasting archives
Capturing a building in 3D is only half the job. The other half is making sure that record has somewhere permanent to live. Today, much of New Zealand's heritage capture data sits on an individual's hard drive or personal cloud account, with no institutional home once that person moves on. This is a systemic gap in the national heritage record, and closing it is central to Tohu Heritage's purpose: once a place has been documented, the record should outlive whoever did the documenting.
03 · Foster collaboration across institutions, communities and professionals
A single building's worth of documentation is valuable on its own, but its value multiplies when different people can actually use it together. This commitment means treating capture data as something to be shared and built upon, not kept in a silo, whether that's a council team, a university research group, or a specialist trade needing to understand how a structure was actually built.
04 · Support educational partnerships and knowledge-sharing
Education is where this pays off fastest. A shared, structured dataset is worth more to everyone the more people who can actually learn from it, which is why supporting universities and research institutions with access to this kind of data is part of the plan, not an afterthought. Tohu Heritage is already working towards partnerships along these lines, treating knowledge-sharing as core to its purpose rather than an add-on.
05 · Champion good documentation practice across New Zealand's built environment
The same underlying problem, valuable knowledge about the built environment being lost, scattered or never recorded, is not unique to heritage buildings. It affects public infrastructure and community assets too: anywhere a place needs to be understood and cared for over time. Thiago's background in data capture and asset management, in New Zealand and internationally, shapes this commitment: establish good documentation practice on heritage places first, then share that standard with the councils, institutions and professionals who look after New Zealand's built environment. The long-term aim is a record that supports a place through its whole life, from the day it is first documented through every maintenance decision, conservation effort and change that follows.
Read more about the story and where it is headed next → About Thiago Amaral
