Digital Twin Development for Cultural Heritage Buildings: A Multimodal Approach to Simulating Energy Performance

Cultural heritage buildings represent invaluable historical and architectural
assets, but their preservation often conflicts with the
need for modern energy efficiency. This paper presents a novel
framework for digital twin development that adopts a multimodal
approach to provide an open-source environment of a CH building
with the goal to simulate and optimize energy performance in
heritage structures. By integrating diverse data modalities, such as
structural analysis, environmental monitoring, and multimedia documentation,
the proposed digital twin provides a comprehensive,
dynamic representation of the building’s energy behavior. This approach
enables more accurate simulations of energy performance,
facilitating informed decision-making for sustainable retrofitting
while respecting the unique constraints of cultural heritage conservation.
The application of this framework in a real case study
demonstrates the potential of multimodal digital twins to bridge
the gap between preservation and energy efficiency, to increase
immersiveness and to highlight their role in advancing sustainable
management practices for heritage sites. The findings underscore
the transformative potential of digital twin technology in fostering
sustainable, data-driven solutions for cultural heritage conservation.