In a post titled “Realizing the Potential of Digital Twins for Building Preservation and Restoration Efforts,” Autodesk Tandem’s resources blog explores how we’re creating digital twins to help stewards of historic buildings better manage invaluable cultural assets.

Rob Fink, AIA, and Charles Thompson discuss how we’re integrating digital twins with historic building information management (HBIM) at places like the Michigan State Capitol. By layering real-time systems performance data from sensors placed throughout the building onto HBIM’s digital repository of historic documentation, the integrated model helps stewards make timely and well-informed decisions.

With the transition to digital twins, Quinn Evans’ clients can access decades of institutional knowledge that was once hiding in boxes, an old file system, or a retiree’s head, and get to it in minutes.

As an example, the piece describes how the Capitol team will soon be able to use the model to pinpoint the source of in-wall water leaks, allowing them to make targeted incisions into historic fabric rather than larger, more disruptive exploratory penetrations. Already, a dashboard tracking temperature and humidity data shows when environmental conditions in spaces with sensitive historic fabric stray outside of accepted parameters so facilities staff can quickly respond.

Read the entire piece, including a discussion of “degree of reliability” for historic documentation, here.