FROM POINT CLOUD TO EXISTING BIM FOR MODELLING AND SIMULATION PURPOSES

Abstract. Many BIM experts agree that employing BIM for new construction is an easy task. However, applying BIM to existing construction will be difficult but is more suitable for heritage buildings cases. These heritage buildings have unique façades and architectural vocabulary, which are of special interest. Furthermore, studying these architecture heritages require some advanced tools in order to understand and analyse their structure, components, and design. Relying only on traditional methods is not adequate, especially for architectural engineers and experts who need digital representations of architectural heritage in order to draw a complete image of any aspect of the project. Moreover, lots of these heritage architectural elements are not documented or provided in the digital architectural libraries, which in turn requires advanced and easy access methods and tools that can extract basic information professionally and explain the essence of heritage. BIM has emerged as an efficient solution that could possibly help in analysing architectural heritage through effective learning processes. Existing BIM is characterised by their ability to create and operate within a digital database of any existing by 3-D laser through scanning the building and transforming it into point-cloud as digital data, so that engineers and experts can work on existing and buildings via the BIM software. As with many heritage buildings in the world, many of the heritage buildings in the Historic district of Jeddah city, Saudi Arabia, face serious issues in terms of conservation, restoration, documentation, managing, recording, and monitoring of these valuable heritage buildings. Therefore, this paper will examine and evaluate the use of BIM in modelling and for simulation purposes, (e.g. structure and energy simulation) with regard to one of the existing heritage buildings in the Historic district of Jeddah.