Architecture Engineers Award

  The shift from traditional craftsmanship to digital reconstruction has created a new frontier for heritage documentation. As builders of the past shaped vaults directly around existing surfaces, today’s BIM operators face the challenge of translating these irregular geometries into accurate digital models. Modern approaches rely on mathematical descriptions, point-cloud processing, and parametric thinking to bridge this gap. Challenges in Digitizing Historical Vault Geometry Historical vaults rarely present uniform or idealized shapes, which complicates their capture and representation. Surface deformations, construction tolerances, and geometric irregularities require advanced scanning, segmentation, and modeling strategies to achieve BIM-ready outputs. Understanding these constraints is key to advancing reliable Scan-to-BIM workflows. Role of Mathematical Descriptors in Parametric Vault Modeling A descriptive mathematical framework allows researchers to abstract irregular...

  The construction industry is undergoing a digital revolution. With mounting pressure to reduce emissions, limit resource consumption, and improve productivity, traditional construction approaches are no longer enough. The future lies in automation, data-driven decision-making, and sustainable design. Emerging technologies such as scan-to-BIM , robotic deconstruction , and metaheuristic optimisation are driving this transformation. These innovations are helping the industry transition toward a circular economy , where buildings are designed not just for construction, but also for deconstruction, reuse, and regeneration. Introduction: Building Smarter, Greener, and More Efficiently The built environment faces unprecedented challenges. As urbanization grows, the demand for infrastructure intensifies—yet resources are finite. The shift to a digital and circular economy represents a bold step toward sustainability. By integrating automated data extraction , robotic planning , a...