Ranking of heritage building conversion alternatives by applying BIM and MCDM: a case of Sapieha Palace in Vilnius

Abstract

A balance (symmetry) between socio-cultural and socio-economic benefits as a part of the economic, social, and cultural development policy of each city and country should be assured when converting built heritage. To anticipate building conversion priorities and opportunities, modern technologies can be employed. However, currently the activity of reconstruction of heritage buildings is part of the construction domain wherein modern digital technologies have been the least ever applied. Therefore, photogrammetry and the 3D modeling of existing heritage buildings was suggested. A case study of Sapieha Palace, built in the Baroque style in 1689–1691 in Vilnius, Lithuania was explored in this research. The applied technologies and software (Agisoft Photoscan, Autodesk ReCap and Autodesk Revit) allowed for the creation of a high quality and accurate model involving both the textured exterior of the building and the interior layout. In addition, the valuable features of a building were identified and marked in a three-dimensional digital model. Based on the model, the authors formulated possible conversion alternatives of the building and identified the associated decision-making criteria, as well as determined their relative significance by an expert survey method. The authors suggested the application of the multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) method under uncertainty, namely the rough weighted aggregated sum product assessment (WASPAS), for ranking alternatives according to multiple criteria. Therefore, the suggested integration of modern digital technologies and decision-making models helps to assure the rational conversion decision of built cultural heritage based on high accuracy data as well as contributing to the sustainable development of engineering processes.