Heritage Building Information Modeling: Theory and Applications

The first 25 years of the so-called “digital revolution” have deeply changed the methods and tools of our interaction with the “architectural domain”. 3D models have progressively become the pivot of the above-mentioned interaction to create a sound correspondence between the virtual and the real constructive processes. From this standpoint, Building Information Modelling (BIM) has proved quite effective in digitally reproducing the coordinated set of simple elements, connected to each other by design logics and construction techniques, that comprise any built artefact. However, this approach can be problematic when applied to existing buidings. Although existing buldings can be decomposed into recurrent elements, the modelling of their parameters and infomration appears much more complex, both in terms of the geometric transposition of the continuity of the real world, and its qualitative and semantic description. This evidence has led scholars and professionals to introduce a specific name for the BIM systems applied to existing buildings adding the prefix “H” that stands for Historic or Heritage. Apart from this linguistic definition, the more the HBIM approach is studied and analysed, the more it appears separate from “classic” BIM. In this framework, we invite scholars, reserachers and profesionals to share their experience about theory and applications in the HBIM domain.