The Kaiping Diaolou and Villages, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, exemplify hybrid Chinese and Western architecture shaped by migration culture. However, architectural heritage engagement often faces authenticity debates, resource constraints, and limited participatory approaches. This research explores current challenges of leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) for architectural heritage, and how AI-assisted interactive systems can foster cultural heritage understanding and preservation awareness. We conducted a formative study (N=14) to uncover empirical insights from heritage stakeholders that inform design. These insights informed the design of Gen-Diaolou, an integrated AI-assisted interactive system that supports heritage understanding and preservation. A pilot study (N=18) and a museum field study (N=26) provided converging evidence suggesting that Gen-Diaolou may support visitors' diachronic understanding and preservation awareness, and together informed design implications for future human-AI collaborative systems for digital cultural heritage engagement. More broadly, this work bridges the research gap between passive heritage systems and unconstrained creative tools in the HCI domain.

翻译：开平碉楼与村落作为联合国教科文组织世界遗产，是移民文化塑造的中西合璧建筑的典范。然而，建筑遗产的公众参与常面临真实性争议、资源限制及参与式方法有限等挑战。本研究探讨了当前利用人工智能（AI）促进建筑遗产所面临的挑战，以及AI辅助交互系统如何能增进文化遗产理解与保护意识。我们开展了一项形成性研究（N=14），以从遗产利益相关者处获取指导设计的实证见解。这些见解指导了Gen-Diaolou的设计，这是一个支持遗产理解与保护的综合AI辅助交互系统。一项试点研究（N=18）和一项博物馆实地研究（N=26）提供了聚合证据，表明Gen-Diaolou可能有助于访客的历时性理解和保护意识，并共同为未来面向数字文化遗产参与的人机协同系统提出了设计启示。更广泛而言，本工作弥合了人机交互领域中被动式遗产系统与无约束创意工具之间的研究空白。