The 10th issue of the journal collects the best contributions of the WORKSHOP 3D MODELING & BIM 2022 related to Information and 3D Modeling for the built heritage.
It is a selection of ongoing research and insights that in their research dimension are well placed in the new routes emerging from the world related to BIM and HBIM, with peaks of innovation in methods and techniques.
It is clear how the first and immediate medium of BIM i.e., modeling, is immediately addressed by two directions: one related to the repetition of the object as it is, as consistent as possible with its imperfections, with a level of accuracy that makes it coincide with the artifact itself; a second one, more related to its ideal copy, from a geometrical or even just typological point of view. This dual direction, well described in the paper on “possible scenarios on metamodeling,” makes possible a first macro division between two schools of thought for the processing of a digital twin related to the built heritage: the first, which aims at digital replication by any means, establishes Reality Based processes that return in the object itself as much information as possible related to its geometry and materiality: to do so, it measures itself with current issues related to interoperability, the rigidity of platforms for model processing, the reliability of data transcribed in the virtual environment. The second is more oriented toward a reading of the model as an ideal environment for the constitution of an information database to which is delegated beyond ideality, imperfection, contradicted rule, specific pathology often with a substantial documentary apparatus. Between these two extremes lie all the nuances and peculiarities that the world of HBIM offers us, with the richness typical of a heritage, such as ours, that shines through well in the pages of this issue.
To the first area belong many works that make use of the enrichment of the more general modeling phase through VPL (Visual Programming Language) systems: the work described in the paper “Automated HBIM” deals specifically with the development of a new HBIM process that, through computerized processes processed in VPL, allows the preservation of the original geometries of cultural heritage. In particular, in the “Case Study of the Tomb of Medusa”, the interoperability of the entire design process allows the transition from the metric survey, starting by point cloud acquisition and management to the definition of the parametric three-dimensional model, through the use of BIM modeler, VPL and free form modelers. The work on model construction on the Palazzo del Collegio dei Nobili in the paper “Visualization and Management of Museum Environments” explores in detail the complex definition of the nested components as interesting exceptions to be handled within the more general model and demonstrates possible applications.
The essays on the “BIM Information Model of the MAXXI”, “A 5D strategy for cost management”, “The Building Dossier”, although in different ways, focus on the level of information needed of the model and on interoperable approaches as possible connections between the parametric digital modeling activity and the visualization of the results obtained from the BIM process; the specific case on 5D BIM is measured on a concrete mediation between the information database and its visibility in an actual digital twin.
Last but not least, papers on virtual environments-the case study of the “Marini Museum in Florence” and “architectural space and problems of acrophobia” carry us into the real time of visualization where it is the fruited virtual space itself in which the required data lies that makes experimentation possible.
The knowledge of Game Engines useful for the construction of virtual environments becomes a necessary factor for those working in the field; the contribution “Comparative evaluation for a theory of use in the field of Digital Heritage” refers specifically to this topic.
Cecilia Bolognesi, Massimiliano Lo Turco