Heritage Building Information Modelling – a case study of Kasthamandap, Nepal

Abstract

A Heritage Building Information Model (HBIM) has been used to permanently record the tangible and intangible aspects of a heritage structure, Kasthamandap, situated in Kathmandu, Nepal. Kasthamandap dates back to 600 CE and is a building integral to Nepal’s heritage. It collapsed as a result of the Gorkha Earthquake in 2015 and the reconstruction began in May 2018. The HBIM created was capable of achieving traditional BIM functionality to display the structural components (timber and masonry). In addition, a method of presenting intangible information was achieved, by modelling generic objects in Revit to represent artefacts and ‘spaces’ and using webpages linked to the objects to display photographs and other archaeological data. The HBIM of Kasthamandap was created using Autodesk Viewer to display a 3D Revit model online, allowing access to the model at no expense to users. This paper demonstrates the variety of ways an HBIM can be used to represent both engineering data and intangible heritage data, with the possibility of involving the public in the heritage documentation process.