Multi-scale integrated assessment of existing building assets through BIM

The paper presents a research work concerned with the assessment of existing building assets at multiple scale of analysis, considering the complex interaction of many different components and performance requirements. Within this context, a multi-criteria approach would be required in order to define the intervention strategies: in the environmental sustainability assessment such method is already well developed and widely applied. The rehabilitation and reuse of buildings encompasses many different performance requirements, among which seismic safety and energy efficiency issues represent a particularly critical aspect, especially considering the significant evolution of the technical standards recently occurred in these fields. At the urban scale, moreover, it is often required to manage large set of buildings, for which it is not rationale – or even possible – to perform at once detailed investigation, modeling and analysis. Within this context, the research has proposed and tested the use of BIM for the definition of the knowledge framework and implementation of assessment procedures at different scale of analysis. The objective is to provide an innovative tool for the performance based assessment in a context of uncertainty and incomplete information. The approach allows to manage different “levels”, starting from poor data and information (for the first screening and analysis), and progressively more refined models with regard to object, associated data, assessment algorithms and procedures. The proposed approach has been focused on the case study of “Fiera del Levante”, a trade fair district extending over 280.000 m2, composed by several buildings aged from 1929 to 2012, that host about thirty events (including international fair shows) throughout the year as well as conferences and/or exhibitions