Built Heritage Information Modelling/Management. Research Perspectives

Abstract

The paper deals with the research issues concerning Historic Building Information Modelling, developing the outcomes of the national project BHIMM, carried out in 2017. The topic has a strategic value, as the relevant new tools enable the kind of Knowledge Management required by the Planned Conservation vision.The key point is the step from implementing BIM authoring software to build a single parametric model, to the definition of several domain-specific parametric models fit for each of the many activities involved in built heritage conservation process. As designed for specific aims, the models can differ both in accuracy and in identification of the objects. This vision moves the research agenda towards exchange platforms and semantic interoperability, pointing out the development of specific ontologies as a crucial task to be carried out in the next years.

The complexities of managing historic buildings with BIM

“…Despite this, the authors concede that digital innovation within the heritage sector has the potential to answer a twofold expectation: more accurate surveys, supported by the evolution of tools and the accustomed use of point-clouds; and secondly, a more effective way of storing and retrieving information to support knowledge management and long-term care activities. This latter expectation showcases the identification of HBIM to support restoration, periodic major maintenance works and preventive conservation (Biagini et al , 2016; López et al , 2018; Piaia et al , 2020; Tapponi et al , 2015; Della Torre and Pili, 2020), representing the most critical management aspects of historic buildings. However, where application of BIM to date has focused on the technical process of surveying and modelling, “BIM as an information management process (IMP) in both the operational phase of a building's lifecycle and in the delivery of conservation repair and maintenance (CRM) and restoration projects has yet to become established in the heritage sector” (Hull and Bryan, 2019).…”

“…These challenges are further amplified when applied to the heritage sector, where Pellicer and Jordan (2016) highlight the absence of familiarity with digital tools and processes within this sector and the added complexities and deformities found in the geometries of heritage buildings. Della Torre and Pili (2020) also highlight the “reuse of practices” and “accustomed attitudes” associated with a lack of digital innovation within the heritage sector, stating that “academics and the industry are still looking for the most effective roadmap to a real implementation of digital techniques on this very peculiar market”. Despite this, the authors concede that digital innovation within the heritage sector has the potential to answer a twofold expectation: more accurate surveys, supported by the evolution of tools and the accustomed use of point-clouds; and secondly, a more effective way of storing and retrieving information to support knowledge management and long-term care activities.…”

“…However, where application of BIM to date has focused on the technical process of surveying and modelling, “BIM as an information management process (IMP) in both the operational phase of a building's lifecycle and in the delivery of conservation repair and maintenance (CRM) and restoration projects has yet to become established in the heritage sector” (Hull and Bryan, 2019). For Della Torre and Pili (2020), “HBIM should exactly bridge these two opportunities, giving the way to opportunities not yet put into practice”.…”

Modeling the Fourth Dimension of Architectural Heritage: Enabling Processes for a Sustainable Conservation

“…This workflow is intended to enable a 4D-aware HBIM that is based on specific semantics and updatable over time. To obtain such a product, it was necessary to work on a double transition both from 2D to 3D representation and from the idea of conservation as a project to one as a process [7]. Great attention was paid to the restitution of Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) data, which turned out to be demanding but fundamental to report and map the historical building transformations, thus borrowing a practice that comes from the archaeology of architecture.…”

Managing Information to Improve Conservation: The HBIM of the Wooden Chain of Santa Maria del Fiore

“…The development of HBIM (Historical or Heritage BIM) [ 46 , 47 ] has been fostered by the considerable progress made in recent years in the field of geomatics. Another important factor is the increasing diffusion of new conservation approaches which, more and more frequently, favor planned conservation over traditional restoration [ 48 ]. Within this framework, informative aspects have gained renewed importance, and the development of long-term management strategies has become critical.…”