Developing a HBIM Shared Library for the Conservation of Jordan’s Heritage in the World Heritage City As-Salt and Capital City Amman

Abstract

Jordan’s architectural heritage has gone through a long period of evolution and development: the result is a mixture of influences and traditions, from both Europe and the Middle East characterised by an optimal integration with the surrounding landscapes, making a great stride to conserve its buildings and historical heritage but has never adopted advanced technologies such as BIM. This is attributable to the lack of specialist training for the professionals within the sector, who remain unaware of the benefits that this methodology can offer. This paper aims to optimise the management process to remedy the natural loss and misplaced historical documentation of heritage over time by creating a 3D library of BIM objects related to typical elements of Jordanian and Arabic architecture, specifically the House of Art in Amman and the Qaqish House in the World Heritage City of As-Salt. This object database, represented through parametric BIM families (easily adaptable to any project of similar elements), will store information related to the geometry of individual objects, but also on the materials and their properties. By creating a library of 3D models of elements typical of the traditional Jordanian architecture, Jordan can acquire attractiveness on the part of tourists and art lovers, starting a chain reaction to get even more digital documentation and heritage conservation of the most historic cities in Jordan and, in general, in the Arabic world.