Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
3.7
1.9
Journals
Heritage
Special Issues
Technological Innovations in the Diagnosis and Rehabilitation of the Building...
share announcement

Technological Innovations in the Diagnosis and Rehabilitation of the Building Heritage

A special issue of Heritage (ISSN 2571-9408). This special issue belongs to the section "Architectural Heritage".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2026 | Viewed by 6094

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Daniela Fico

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. National Research Council-Institute of Heritage Science (CNR-ISPC), Ecotekne Campus, s.p. 6, Lecce-Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy
2. Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, Building P, Ecotekne Campus, s.p. 6, Lecce-Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Interests: cultural heritage; analytical chemistry; materials engineering; archaeometry; innovative and green materials; additive manufacturing; rehabilitation processes; building applications; coatings; 3D printing; bio-based polymers and composites; chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques; conservation and restoration; waste recycling; circular economy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to submit research contributions to this Special Issue, called “Technological Innovations in the Diagnosis and Rehabilitation of the Building Heritage”. It is a continuation of the Special Issue “Conservation Methodologies and Practices for Built Heritage”.

The planning of conservation interventions for historic buildings requires an understanding of their characteristics, of the site, and of the intervention procedures due to the unique features of the architectural asset. In recent years, many advances have been made in the area of knowledge of conservation methodologies and practices for architectural cultural heritage. The use of innovative technologies and multidisciplinary approaches can be considered valuable tools to support the conservation, fruition, and valorization of a CH building, which is usually subject to protection restrictions and therefore requires noninvasive or, in some cases, microdestructive diagnostic analyses.

The aim of this Special Issue is to collect studies on architectural heritage conservation, focusing on material science, diagnostics and monitoring, chemical analysis, intervention, civil and materials engineering, green materials, and the use of new digital technologies.

The topics include, but are not limited to, conservation methodologies and practices for built heritage:

  • Chemical and engineering materials and technologies in the field of the diagnosis, conservation, fruition and valorization, and rehabilitation of historical buildings;
  • Environmental monitoring of monuments;
  • Multivariate statistical treatments and mathematical models;
  • Virtual and augmented reality, additive manufacturing, ICT, and digital heritage technologies;
  • Sustainability, green chemistry, and ecofriendly materials.

Original research, review articles, case studies, and research papers focusing on diagnostic, chemical, engineering, physical, and other investigations are accepted. Papers focusing on issues of sustainability, circular economy, and cost-effective technologies in building conservation are also welcome.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Best regards,

Dr. Daniela Fico
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Heritage is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • chemical and engineering materials and technologies
  • environmental monitoring of monuments
  • virtual reality
  • digital heritage technologies
  • sustainability

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Related Special Issue

Published Papers (2 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

28 pages, 3445 KB  
Article
IoT-Based Platform for Wireless Microclimate Monitoring in Cultural Heritage
by Alberto Bucciero, Alessandra Chirivì, Riccardo Colella, Mohamed Emara, Matteo Greco, Mohamed Ali Jaziri, Irene Muci, Andrea Pandurino, Francesco Valentino Taurino and Davide Zecca
Heritage 2026, 9(2), 57; https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage9020057 - 3 Feb 2026
Viewed by 719
Abstract
The H2IOSC project aims to establish a federated cluster of European distributed research infrastructures involved in the humanities and cultural heritage sectors, with operating nodes across Italy. Through four key RIs—DARIAH-IT, CLARIN, OPERAS, and E-RIHS—the project promotes collaboration among researchers with interdisciplinary expertise. [...] Read more.
The H2IOSC project aims to establish a federated cluster of European distributed research infrastructures involved in the humanities and cultural heritage sectors, with operating nodes across Italy. Through four key RIs—DARIAH-IT, CLARIN, OPERAS, and E-RIHS—the project promotes collaboration among researchers with interdisciplinary expertise. Within this framework, DIGILAB functions as the digital access platform for the Italian node of E-RIHS. Conceived as a socio-technical infrastructure for the Heritage Science community, DIGILAB is designed to manage heterogeneous data and metadata through advanced knowledge graph representations. The platform adheres to the FAIR principles and supports the complete data lifecycle, enabling the development and maintenance of Heritage Digital Twins. DIGILAB integrates diverse categories of information related to cultural sites and objects, encompassing historical and artistic datasets, diagnostic analyses, 3D models, and real-time monitoring data. This monitoring capability is achieved through the deployment of cutting-edge Internet of Things (IoT) technologies and large-scale Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). As part of DIGILAB, we developed SENNSE (v1.0), a fully open hardware/software platform dedicated to environmental and structural monitoring. SENNSE allows the remote, real-time observation and control of cultural heritage sites (collecting microclimatic parameters such as temperature, humidity, noise levels) and of cultural objects (collecting object-specific data including vibrations, light intensity, and ultraviolet radiation). The visualization and analytical tools integrated within SENNSE transform these datasets into actionable insights, thereby supporting advanced research and conservation strategies within the Cultural Heritage domain. In the following sections, we provide a detailed description of the SENNSE platform, outlining its hardware components and software modules, and discussing its benefits. Furthermore, we illustrate its application through two representative use cases: one conducted in a controlled laboratory environment and another implemented in a real-world heritage context, exemplified by the “Biblioteca Bernardini” in Lecce, Italy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Technological Innovations in the Diagnosis and Rehabilitation of the Building Heritage)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

32 pages, 16823 KB  
Article
From Heritage Building Information Modelling Towards an ‘Echo-Based’ Heritage Digital Twin
by Hord Arsalan, David Heesom and Nigel Moore
Heritage 2025, 8(1), 33; https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage8010033 - 17 Jan 2025
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 4505
Abstract
Since the late 2000s, numerous studies have focused on the application of Heritage Building Information Modelling (HBIM) processes and technologies for the documentation of the historic built environment. Many of these studies have focused on the use of BIM software tools to generate [...] Read more.
Since the late 2000s, numerous studies have focused on the application of Heritage Building Information Modelling (HBIM) processes and technologies for the documentation of the historic built environment. Many of these studies have focused on the use of BIM software tools to generate intelligent 3D models using information gathered from a range of data capture techniques including laser scanning and photogrammetry. While this approach effectively preserves existing or partially extant heritage, it faces limitations in reconstructing lost or poorly documented structures. The aim of this study is to develop a novel approach to complement the existing tangible-based HBIM methods, towards an ‘Echo-based’ Heritage Digital Twin (EH-DT) an early-stage digital representation that leverages intangible, memory-based oral descriptions (or echoes) and AI text-to-image generation techniques. The overall methodology for the research presented in this paper proposes a three-phase framework. Phase 1: engineering a standardised heritage prompt template, Phase 2: creation of the Architectural Heritage Transformer, and Phase 3: implementing an AI text-to-image generation toolkit. Within these phases, intangible data, including collective memories (or oral histories) of people who had first-hand experience with the building, provide ‘echoes’ of past form. These can then be converted using a novel ‘Architectural Heritage Transformer’ (AHT), which converts plain language descriptions into architectural terminology through a generated taxonomy. The output of the AHT forms input for a pre-created standardised heritage prompt template for use in AI diffusion models. While the current EH-DT framework focuses on producing 2D visual representations, it lays the foundation for potential future integration with HBIM models or digital twin systems. However, the reliance on generative AI introduces potential risks of inaccuracies due to speculative outputs, necessitating rigorous validation and iterative refinement to ensure historical and architectural credibility. The findings indicate the potential of AI to extend the current HBIM paradigm by generating images of ‘lost’ heritage buildings, which can then be used to enhance and augment the more ‘traditional’ HBIM process. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Technological Innovations in the Diagnosis and Rehabilitation of the Building Heritage)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-2
Back to TopTop