The Semantic Discretization of Architectural Heritage as the Basis of a HBIM Restoration and Conservation Project

Abstract

In the archeology of architecture, the paramental study requires documentation techniques in order to identify, classify, and document the different stratigraphies that appear in historical buildings. The documentation must be objective, independent, and systematic and must also contain a record that allows the monitoring of specialist technicians in this field. The emergence of technologies based on BIM has opened a new scenario in the 3D registry of heritage buildings. Thus, to reinforce the implementation of the work carried out in heritage, this research carries out an experimentation through a semi-automatic sequence of stratigraphic units in ashlars with complex geometries. The workflow has been developed on the ArchiCAD platform, included in a Teamwork HBIM restoration and conservation project, allowing the sequencing of automatic classification processes, which in the archeology area would be very complex to carry out. To do this, the connection script between ArchiCAD and Python is reconditioned, which works as a Python link for the ARCHICAD JSON interface. The results, although in several initial phases, present classification problems when the stratigraphic units present overlaps, we proceed to improve in such a way that there is a classification in a structured and orderly way. The advantages of obtaining this type of classification in a digital model are innumerable, since each element of ashlar, stone or pilaster contains semantic properties and precise geometric properties that enrich each one of the interventions in a workflow between BIM operators and teams restoration technicians.