Building Information Modeling for Cultural Heritage: beyond asset modeling. A pragmatic comparison of literature case studies

The Building Information Modeling is an innovative approach based on two main pillars: new technologies and a collaborative work environment. It includes the creation of a digital container where all the information about the building and its lifecycle are dynamically allocated. Whilst the use of BIM in the management phase represents a unexpressed potentiality, the exploitation of the 3D virtual model could give a multiplicity of benefits, above all as regards big and historical buildings that are complex to manage. This paper wants to give a contribution to clarify what happens after modeling the cultural heritage with the principles of HBIM –Historical BIM- and managing its documentation. The authors analysed, with a pragmatic approach, a series of case studies documented in literature. The analysis led to highlight strengths and weakness of current approaches and a possible framework to overcome them.