Reality Capture for Historic BIM (HBIM) Development of the Old Polk County Courthouse in Bartow, Florida, USA

Abstract

Nestled in the historic district of the small Central Florida town of Bartow, the Old Polk County Courthouse (OPCC) served the citizens of Polk County from 1909 to 1987. Eventually replaced by a high-rise courthouse to accommodate population growth, the OPCC underwent major restorations between 1993 and 1996 and now serves as the Polk County History Center, which houses a historical museum and genealogical library. Due to its historical value within local and regional contexts, it was deemed important to archive the courthouse in a manner that can be utilized from a practical standpoint of preservation, operations, and maintenance and an academic standpoint for research of early 20th century buildings in the southeastern U.S. A research project has been done to use Historic Building Information Modeling (HBIM) technology to digitally preserve and reconstruct the OPCC building. The findings of this project can be implemented to help digitally document and recreate other historic structures. This paper presents the work flow and technologies that were utilized to capture data for developing HBIM models of the OPCC, including conventional field surveys, LiDAR scanning, photogrammetry, and 360-degree photography.