This experience places users at Balanga Elementary School on April 9, 1942, the day Bataan fell.

By scanning an archival photograph displayed in a café setting, users are transported into the site and invited to move through one of the most significant moments of the Second World War in the Philippines.

The experience begins at the front façade, where users enter the site after scanning the archival image.

As users move forward, they transition into the building through its naturally open layout. The movement from exterior to interior mirrors the unfolding of the historical narrative.

At one of the windows, a prompt invites users to look inside. This interaction connects the architecture to the events associated with the site.

Toward the rear of the building, the experience shifts toward the aftermath of surrender. Rather than presenting a fixed scene, the reconstruction unfolds through movement, allowing users to navigate the site as history emerges around them.

The reconstruction is based on archival photographs and documented historical accounts.

• The façade follows available visual references

• Architectural elements are modeled using known Gabaldon features

• Interior spaces remain interpretive where documentation is limited

The goal is not complete replication, but a historically grounded spatial experience.

This reconstruction does not focus on combat. Instead, it emphasizes presence, movement, and spatial memory.

Architecture becomes both interface and narrative medium. Windows frame historical references, while movement through the structure shapes how users encounter the site.

Rather than dramatizing the past, the experience invites reflection through space.

The reconstruction follows a conservative interpretive approach.

• No undocumented elements are introduced

• Events are not staged or dramatized

• Interior details remain interpretive where evidence is incomplete

These decisions prioritize historical credibility while maintaining immersion.

Balanga Elementary School demonstrates how ordinary civic spaces can carry layered histories.

Through AR, these spaces become accessible once again, not as distant monuments, but as environments that can be entered, navigated, and experienced.

The project highlights how architecture can preserve memory and how digital heritage tools can make those histories visible in new ways.

Agoncillo, T. A. (1990). The fateful years: Japan’s adventure in the Philippines, 1941–1945. University of the Philippines Press.

Baldassarre, F. (n.d.). The Bataan surrender (Unpublished historical account).

Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines. (2019). Republic Act No. 11194: Gabaldon School Buildings Conservation Act.

Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office. (n.d.). The fall of Bataan.

Whitman, J. H. (1990). Bataan: Our last ditch. Hippocrene Books.