A New Method for Managing and Presenting Façade Investigation Data

Abstract

The maintenance and inspection of high-rise building facades and roof structures with panelized cladding may span over the course of many years and produce large quantities of information. Organizing what often contains decades of historical records for repairs and inspections alongside newly acquired data can become difficult and overwhelming. Recent changes in the building codes mandate more frequent and comprehensive inspections, pointing to an exponential increase in the amount of data to be managed. Incorporating a Forensic Information Model (FIM) can aid in the organization and representation of inspection data. FIMs are quickly becoming the state-of-the-art for presenting data associated with forensic investigations. Traditionally, FIM has been used for litigation and Building Information Modeling (BIM) software to tie a 3D model of a structure to results gained from analysis models and damage assessments. For facade and cladding investigations, FIM connects the 3D surface geometry to a back-end database of supporting documentation by way of a strict naming scheme. The result is a dynamic representational tool, which serves to highlight both geographical and chronological patterns in inspection or repair data. The database remains open-ended and customizable, making it applicable to a wide variety of projects. In addition, FIM can interactively communicate the investigation results to other involved parties in a uniquely visual way, thereby acting as a useful deliverable product. In this paper, we outline a flexible method for the management and presentation of facade investigation data. We present three case studies to illustrate the application of the method to a diverse range of projects.