Engineering a BIM-Based Mixed Reality Application for the Life-Cycle Management of Buildings

In this research and innovation work, we propose an open and interoperable approach for exploiting the various building data collected across the different phases of a building’s life cycle via a BIM-based Mixed Reality (MR) platform. Building information modelling (BIM) has gradually gained attention in recent decades and is widely considered a key to digitising and optimising the building life cycle. Yet, there are significant challenges in the standardization of methodologies, interoperability of solutions, and data exchange, as well as the usability of BIM-related solutions. Moreover, modern or renovated buildings produce extensive real-time data on top of the static data organised in BIM, and it is commonly accepted that most professionals in the field do not have access to the critical static or dynamic data that accompany a building project. Here, we exploit MR as an advanced user interface for enhanced interaction with building static and dynamic data instantiated by a BIM model, while we address a seamless conversion of BIM data to an online visual digital twin that supports the MR mobile application.