Parametric and Visual Programming BIM Applied to Museums, Linking Container and Content

Abstract

In recent years we have been experiencing an ever-increasing number of Building Modeling Modeling (BIM) and Visual Programming Language (VPL) approaches in the architectural design field. These experiments have inspired new research strictly focused on exploring values, criticalities, and the advantages of applying these combined methodologies in the Cultural Heritage domain. This integrated approach has emphasized the benefits derived from HBIM. The next step is to critically evaluate the application of BIM and VPL processes used in the management and valorisation of museum heritage, pursuing both parametric and algorithmic approaches. The research group worked on building a model that shared the BIM hierarchical structure and the flexibility of the VPL methodologies. Semi-automatic procedures were developed within a rigorous BIM workflow, with the help of Autodesk and McNeel tools, to show and manage complex museum management phenomena. These procedures aimed to respond to three different objectives. First, the need to associate information from the Facility Report to the individual BIM components to predict and monitor the conditions in which museum collections are found. Second, the intention to measure the attractiveness of the artifacts within the exhibition project and the design effects for a correct prefiguration of visitor flows. Third, the elements involved included the exhibition area obtained from an HBIM model (converted into a visual field through interoperable processes), the digitized collections (the attractive elements), the users and, finally, the numerical evaluation of the visibility of specific objects within collections by simulating the human point of view. Once automated, the devised procedures can be considered a prototype to support curators in controlling and improving the efficiency of the exhibition layout.