Digital technology can help us reconnect with our ancestors, say Dezeen Award winners Casson Mann in this movie produced by Dezeen.

The London-based designers Casson Mann were named the winners of the Interior Project of the Year category at last year's inaugural Dezeen Awards, for the permanent exhibition at the Lascaux International Centre for Cave Art.

Located in the rural village of Montignac in southwest France, the Snøhetta-designed museum comprises a series of galleries containing digital reconstructions of a famous 20,000-year-old painting, which adorns a nearby cave complex.

Despite close proximity to the museum, the caves have been closed to the general public since the 1960s, following the art's over-exposure to carbon dioxide and subsequent damage.

"All that moisture that people gave off caused mould to grow on the original painting," explained Roger Mann in the movie.

However, by using modern technology, Casson Mann were able to create a experience that is as authentic as possible, in order to bring visitors closer to the lost Palaeolithic paintings.

"It's something that people connect with very emotionally," said Mann. "So when we did this space that's something we wanted to build on essentially – to explore that connection with our past."

Casson Mann used 3D laser scanning to capture the surfaces of the painting. The replicas hang from the ceiling above the heads of the visitors, while the acoustics and temperature of the interior mimic the caves' original conditions.

Read more on Dezeen: https://www.dezeen.com/?p=1350611

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