From heritage BIM towards an ‘echo-based’ modelling approach: developing a new paradigm for the digital creation of lost architectural heritage

The recreation of lost and partially lost heritage buildings presents a major challenge in the field of digital heritage. While Heritage Building Information Modelling (HBIM) has advanced significantly in the documentation of existing heritage, its application to buildings that no longer physically exist remains limited. These cases often lack measurable or visual records, requiring novel methods to construct credible and authentic digital representations based on intangible data. This study aims to extend the HBIM paradigm by developing a new modelling approach for the authentic recreation of lost architectural heritage using oral histories and AI techniques. The research introduces an Echo-Based Modelling Approach, which translates first-hand descriptive memories into structured architectural terminology, suitable for generating visual models. A five-phase methodological framework was developed and tested. Phase 1 engineered a Standardised Heritage Prompt Template (SHePT); Phase 2 introduced Heritage Questions (HQs) for eliciting descriptive input; Phase 3 developed the Architectural Heritage Transformer (AHT), an ontology-based tool for mapping plain language responses to architectural terms; Phase 4 involved the automation of data handling; and Phase 5 integrated AI text-to-image generation tools to recreate visual representations of lost buildings. The framework was evaluated through a case study of a building in the West Midlands, UK. The findings demonstrate that the approach can effectively convert intangible memory-based data into usable architectural input, offering a new pathway for HBIM applications where no physical or visual record exists. This study contributes to the theoretical expansion of HBIM to encompass intangible heritage sources and proposes a practical toolset that may influence future research, conservation practice, and policy related to lost heritage reconstruction.

Citation

Arsalan, H. (2025) From heritage BIM towards an ‘echo-based’ modelling approach: developing a new paradigm for the digital creation of lost architectural heritage. University of Wolverhampton. https://wlv.openrepository.com/handle/2436/626071

Publisher

University of Wolverhampton

URI

https://wlv.openrepository.com/handle/2436/626071

Language

en

Description

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of University of Wolverhampton, for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

Collections

Theses and Dissertations