ENTHUSIASTS of architecture, archaeology, technology, music and art can experience York’s heritage as never before today at the National Centre for Early Music, St Margaret’s Church, Walmgate.

In the latest Vespertine cultural event in the city, artists and archaeologists have worked together to create a colourful virtual reality experience drawn from the church's architecture.

The AOC Archaeology Group, from York, has used laser-scanning technology to record millions of pinpoint measurements of St Margaret’s Church and this information will be transformed into a virtual reality journey that visitors can experience using smartphones and VR goggles.

Welcoming the inaugural partnership project between the AOC Archaeology Group and National Centre for Early Music, NCEM director Delma Tomlin says: "It's been fascinating to see AOC's laser scans of our beautiful church. Artist and technologist Annabeth Robinson and musician Jez Wells have translated these scans into an installation and virtual reality experience allowing us to experience the building in a whole new way.”

Today's event is the latest instalment of Vespertine, a series of early-evening happenings in York. The day will begin with a 4pm to 5pm Families Workshop Session, where participants can use instruments including a sound beam and an X-Box controller to control the light and sound in the church, thereby transforming the space.

From 5.30pm to 7.30pm, you can take an immersive digital journey and experience the sound installation that together bring the former St Margaret’s Church and the laser scans to life. From 7pm, there will be an opportunity to meet Annabeth Robinson and Jez Wells to learn more about their process of creating the VR experience and sound installation.

"This project has come about because I've had a long association with the NCEM, doing a number of recordings there, the first one being Pierrot Lunaire, about ten years ago," says Jez, who is a lecturer in sound recording and music technology in the University of York music department, having switched from the electronics department in the past five years.

"This new commission came in the summer when I was asked if I'd be interested in working with Annabeth Robinson, an artist who works in laser scans. I said 'Yes', and I decided to use audio data from the NCEM building for the sound installation," he says, recalling how he shattered sounds into tiny compounds.

Jez has created a sound sculpture that lasts for 12 minutes and will come out of 18 speakers in the NCEM's former nave as "the sound of the response of the building to itself". "The idea is to walk around the speakers and experience the sound as you move around, and the fact that Vespertine events take place at twilight means the response will differ as darkness descends and the light dwindles in the church windows, as my installation is accompanied by projections on to the walls that will interact with the ambient lighting. The experience will be reverberation as you've never heard it before."