The village of Vaux, located near Verdun, was completely destroyed during the 1916 fighting of the First World War. Classified among the “destroyed villages”, it remains a major site of remembrance, now hidden beneath the forest and accessible only through the traces of its past.

Visitors are invited to understand what life was like in the village before its disappearance, while also discovering the ecological richness of the forest that now covers it.

The local authority commissioned Mazedia to design an interpretation mobile application and an associated website, enabling the reconstruction of the vanished village in 3D and offering an augmented-reality trail dedicated to biodiversity.

The system offers two complementary tours: an augmented-reality exploration of the local biodiversity and a real-time 3D reconstruction of the village, geolocated within the forest.

The Wezit platform enables the administration of all media—studio videos, 3D environments, AR elements, points of interest—providing the client with significant autonomy.

Augmented-reality animals and natural elements highlight the present-day forest and raise awareness of biodiversity preservation.

Particular attention was paid to the quality of the 3D models, the realism of the reconstructed scenes and the seamless integration of augmented reality into the forest setting.

Scenes of daily life from the early twentieth century were recreated through studio filming of actors on green screen, integrated into 3D environments modelled for the application.

A dedicated website extends the experience and makes the discovery accessible to remote audiences.