GENERATIVE HBIM-MODELING TO EMBODY COMPLEXITY. SURVEYING, PRESERVATION, SITE INTERVENTION. THE BASILICA DI COLLEMAGGIO (L'AQUILA)

In December 2012 ENIservizi (the Italian multi-national energy agency operating in many countries), after the Earthquake that occurred at L’Aquila in April 2009, decided to undertake the project ‘Re-start from Collemaggio’, funding around 14 million Euro to restore the Basilica di Collemaggio. ENIservizi, aware of the BIM potential in the complex building and infrastructure domain in the world, required an advanced HBIM based on the laser scanner and photogrammetric surveying to address decision-making processes among the different actors involved by the preservation process. This paper tries to make a synthesis of the different lessons learnt, in addition to the positive and critical aspects relating HBIM feasibility, sustainability and usefulness to the challenging restoration and preservation work. The theoretical and practical approach here adopted, overcame the current HBIM logic based on sequential LoD (from simplex to complex, from the preliminary to the executive design) that is typical of new constructions, in favour of a complex-mixed LoD approach that could guarantee management of the richness, unicity and multiplicity of each component and the maximum degree of knowledge in order to derive the decisions from the starting phases of the project. The challenge is to obtain a cost-effective HBIM able to embody the complexity of each element (i.e. walls, pillars, vaults, beams, timbers). A NURBS based parametric generative modeling process is here proposed in order to get sustainable rich modeling able to match the related information, moving HBIM toward the actors. On the lesson learnt from this experience, the process of updating the current codification criteria (UNI11337- 2009) was started with a draft proposal stimulating a debate for the future of HBIM adoption: in the conviction that the main goal will be to transfer the HBIM richness till to the Life Cycle Management taking in account the as-built changing and monitoring the state of the art during the time being, lowering the initial modeling costs.