HBIM Methodology to Achieve a Balance between Protection and Habitability: The Case Study of the Monastery of Santa Clara in Belalcazar, Spain

Abstract

The different technical and legal tools intended for heritage protection have augmented the possibilities to acknowledge important monumental complexes. However, a contrast lies in the artistic contexts in which, due to the consolidation of their programmatic typology, such monuments require habitation, unlike more conventional monuments. This article collects the results of an accurate investigation conducted by the authors, whose main objective was to obtain a tool that allows consistent measurement of different indicators in which both the protection of the elements, and the capacity for habitation, are safeguarded. To this aim, we contextualized the research at the Monastery of Santa Clara de la Columna in Belalcázar (Córdoba), a monastery with the highest heritage protection in Spain, and which, in turn, accommodates a religious community. The results have allowed us, for the first time in Andalucia, to define objective habitability parameters, within protected heritage contexts.