After nearly two decades of developments in Historic/Heritage Building Information Modeling (HBIM), the field has reached a stage of maturity that calls for a critical reassessment of its evolution, achievements, and remaining challenges. Digital representation has become a central component of contemporary heritage conservation, enabling advanced methods for analysis, management, and communication. This review examines the maturation of HBIM as a comprehensive framework that integrates extended reality (XR), artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), semantic segmentation and Digital Twin (DT). Six major research domains that have shaped recent progress are outlined: (1) the application of HBIM to restoration and conservation workflows; (2) the expansion of public engagement through XR, virtual museums, and serious games; (3) the stratigraphic documentation of building archaeology, historical phases, and material decay; (4) data-exchange mechanisms and interoperability with open formats and Common Data Environments (CDEs); (5) strategies for modeling geometric and semantic complexity using traditional, applied, and AI-driven approaches; and (6) the emergence of heritage DT as dynamic, semantically enriched systems integrating real-time and lifecycle data. A comparative assessment of international case studies and bibliometric trends (2015–2025) illustrates how HBIM is transforming proactive and data-informed conservation practice. The review concludes by identifying persistent gaps and outlining strategic directions for the next phase of research and implementation.

A digital twin is a virtual counterpart of a physical object or system based on precise data collection. Although digital twin applications are gaining traction in the virtual reconstruction of built heritage, their relevance in archaeological sites remains limited, especially for those with only foundations. The Pishan (毘山) site in Huzhou, featuring the remains of a high-platform building and a large stilt-style architecture, represents the largest settlement site from the late Shang (商, ca. 1600 – 1046 BCE) and early Western Zhou (西周, 1046 – 771 BCE) dynasties in Zhejiang Province, China. At present, confronting contradictions among preservation, restoration, and reuse as a heritage park, the site leverages digital twin technologies to address two concerns: (i) reconstructing a 3D scene for further restoration and related studies and (ii) integrating multimedia to enhance visitors’ experiences and dissemination. Photogrammetry, unmanned aerial vehicle, and a mirrorless camera are employed to collect sky and ground dual graphic data and reconstruct the 3D model of the loess terrace. A panoramic roaming environment is created through panoramic photography. Geographic information system is integrated to enable visual analysis and information management while building information modeling facilitates the integration of parametric modeling and point cloud, aiding virtual restoration research. In conclusion, a workflow entitled “Virtual Reconstruction – Management and Analysis – Restoration – Exhibition” is proposed, promising in-depth exploration in further studies.

This study presents a novel workflow for the digital valorisation of cultural heritage by integrating Heritage Building Information Modelling (HBIM) with Virtual Reality (VR) and WebVR technologies. The methodology is applied to Villa Arconati—also known as Castellazzo degli Arconati—in the Castellazzo district of Bollate, northwest of Milan, and to a Roman statue traditionally identified as Pompey the Great, which has been recently reattributed to Emperor Tiberius and is currently exhibited within the villa’s museum. A comprehensive 3D survey campaign, combining laser scanning, photogrammetry, and topographic measurements, enabled the creation of a highly accurate HBIM model that captures both the villa’s architectural features and the statue’s spatial contexts: its original outdoor setting in the formal gardens and its current indoor display. To enhance accessibility and deliver immersive experiences, the project developed a VR app and browser-based WebVR application. The HBIM model—created in Autodesk Revit and enriched with detailed semantic data—was carefully optimised for real-time web performance. The resulting application allows users to explore and interact with the statue’s historical and contemporary settings through an intuitive VR and WebVR interface featuring guided narration and interactive informational hotspots. Based on a comparative analysis of Unreal Engine, Unity, Twinmotion, and PlayCanvas, the proposed workflow addresses common VR limitations by offering a sustainable, resource-efficient solution that balances visual quality, interactivity, and accessibility. This study demonstrates how accurate digital documentation, combined with immersive WebVR, can foster inclusive and engaging cultural heritage experiences, supporting the sustainable digital dissemination of historic sites.

The growing use of artificial intelligence (AI) and data-driven methods in architectural heritage research requires structured and reusable semantic units to support consistent modelling, annotation, and knowledge alignment. In this context, Historic Building Information Modelling (HBIM) can serve as a semantic anchor by linking surveyed geometry with object-based representations and non-geometric information. However, current HBIM workflows remain semantically fragmented: point cloud segmentation often relies on project-specific labels, object modelling adopts inconsistent decomposition and naming logics, and semantic enrichment is frequently implemented through custom parameters without a shared component-level framework. Although Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) provide the most widely adopted canonical structure for interoperability, their standard entities are often too coarse to represent heritage-specific subcomponents. To address this gap, this study proposes an IFC-compatible semantic framework for component-level representation in HBIM. The framework combines a canonical IFC-aligned layer with a heritage extension layer and introduces a mapping strategy for representing semantically meaningful subcomponents without modifying the core IFC schema. A Serliana arch on the church of SS. Paolo e Barnaba in Milan is used as a case study to illustrate the implementation of the proposed approach. The study establishes a preliminary semantic foundation for component-level heritage representation in HBIM, providing both a conceptual basis for structuring heritage subcomponents and an operational basis for their IFC-compatible implementation. This foundation may also support future developments in ontology alignment and cross-modal AI applications, where stable semantic anchors are required for data integration and annotation.