Construction study of the Palace of the Children of Don Gome (Andújar, Jaén), managed through the HBIM project

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is a collaborative system used extensively in the design and management of the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industries. Current platforms manage the information as data centres (i.e. databases) related to graphical representations located in 3D parametric models. Today, these new technologies are nowadays being incorporated in heritage assets. This paper aims to establish a methodology, based on these efficient platforms, for studying built heritage, including historical and construction aspects by adding the chronology of those interventions made in the historic building. This case study is focused on the Palace of the Children of Don Gome, a historic building located in the city of Andujar, in Jaen (Spain). The interest of this case study lies in the historic innovations and areas added to this palace. Likewise, the collection and manipulation of the graphic information and data related to the interventions have been based on an interoperable 3D graphic model, which allows users to include all the related documentation from different disciplines associated with the conservation and heritage restoration processes. In this paper, the construction process carried out during the last restoration of the building is studied. Specifically, it analyses the last building intervention in 1989, in particular an area of the coffered ceiling slab in the northern nave, located on the first floor. Within this model, all the elements that constitute the roof of the tower, mudwall walls, slabs and coffered ceilings of the northern nave have been studied, using photogrammetry for data acquisition and 3D modelling, and these data are included in a 3D digital model of the building generated using ArchiCAD software. Moreover, the system will be used to improve the management of the information obtained during heritage maintenance, creating a record of the whole building life cycle. As well as the historical documentation and graphical research, and the analysis of the procedures carried out during the last refurbishment of the building, new building construction system proposals have arisen which have been modelled to fulfil the Level Of Development (LOD) 300. Further analysis of these construction solutions used provides knowledge of how large 16th century palaces were built, and the kind of restoration conducted by architects at the end of the 20th century. The results obtained show how current BIM platforms are able to record construction and evolutionary aspects of a building’s history, by identifying all the original elements and classifying them before their demolition. Also, by making a detailed inventory of the whole coffered ceiling in which the position and the temporal order (original – later addition) of the elements are included, it is possible to virtually replace those elements in their original positions, reducing the visual impact of the intervention. On the other hand, multiple errors in projects based on graphical systems of representation, mainly Computer-Aided Design (CAD), may derive from contradictions in the official sources consulted, such as the plans of the cadastre, the city council, and those produced through manual measurement procedures. However, in this paper, real graphical documentation has been generated using specific 3D surveying techniques for capturing geometry and accurate measurements, as well as by utilising the BIM system.