Abstract
Abstract. This paper presents a comparative approach between a digital documentation workflow using contemporary tools versus a traditional documentation technique for Felix Candela's hyperbolic paraboloid (hypar) modern heritage building: Cosmic Rays Pavilion. This documentation was undertaken to better understand the building’s structure, its evolution, and to assess the performance of this concrete structure for future seismic and damage analysis. Furthermore, the paper discusses the challenges related to producing a Heritage Building Information Model (HBIM) of this building using point cloud data in Autodesk’s Revit BIM-authoring software. This project states the importance of a parallel study between the traditional and the contemporary documentation methods; which led to discoveries about the current state of the extrados in the hypar after several earthquakes. Upon analyzing the HBIM and comparing it to the historical drawings, a gap was discovered between the moisture barrier membrane and the concrete shell. Visualizing the building in 3D provides a deeper and more accurate understanding of the current state of this pavilion and is one of many advantages of using digital technologies. The insights provided by digital documentation techniques and analyzing the historical images of the pavilion showed that the curvature of the pavilion has been modified over time. The results imply two hypotheses. First, the curvature profile has been altered due to earthquakes. Second, the modification is due to improper maintenance of the pavilion, namely, multiple additions of the membrane layers. This could not have been detected by solely relying on traditional documentation techniques.
Highlights
Felix Candela was born in Spain and emigrated to Mexico in 1939
Cosmic Rays Pavilion, completed in 1951 in Mexico City was his seventh concrete shell built at that time, while it was the first hypar thin-shell concrete built in Latin-America (Mendoza, Esponda, Espinosa, Méndez, 2021)
After the Heritage Building Information Model (HBIM) creation of the pavilion, collaboration with Cordero’s traditional measurements, and a thorough study of the archival documents; the results show that the traditional and contemporary techniques produced the same results
Summary
Felix Candela was born in Spain and emigrated to Mexico in 1939 He experimented with hypar geometry for most of his career. Cosmic Rays Pavilion, completed in 1951 in Mexico City was his seventh concrete shell built at that time, while it was the first hypar thin-shell concrete built in Latin-America (Mendoza, Esponda, Espinosa, Méndez, 2021). This pavilion is located on the UNESCO World Heritage campus of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) with a 5/8” (16 mm) thin reinforced concrete shell at the crown, increasing to 1 1⁄2” (37mm) at the base (Garlock and Billington, 2008). The pavilion serves as a storage space for board games and sports equipment
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