FACULDADE DE ARQUITETURA DA UNIVERSIDADE DE LISBOA (UL)

Their core work

FAUL is the architecture faculty of the University of Lisbon, specializing in digital documentation and information modeling of historic buildings. Their H2020 work centers on converting physical architectural surveys — using laser scanners and photogrammetry — into structured BIM (Building Information Models) that comply with international data standards (IFC, IDM, IFD). They apply these methods specifically to baroque and other historic European structures, including complex decorative elements like illusionist ceiling paintings that are difficult to document digitally. In practice, they produce the tools, workflows, and data schemas that heritage managers and conservation architects need to maintain and study old buildings using modern digital infrastructure.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

No early-period keywords are recorded for the 2017–2019 project (3D-SMoHC), but the project title points to foundational work in open-access 3D modeling for conservation management. By 2020–2023, the keyword set becomes technically specific and standards-focused — IFC, IDM, IFD, H-BIM Level 3, and Scan-to-BIM — signaling a clear shift from general 3D documentation toward interoperable, standards-compliant BIM pipelines. The trajectory is from "documenting heritage in 3D" toward "making that data machine-readable, exchangeable, and integrated into professional heritage management workflows."

FAUL is moving toward the technical infrastructure layer of heritage digitization — BIM data standards and interoperability — which positions them well for future projects involving smart city heritage integration, digital twins of historic buildings, or pan-European heritage data platforms.

How they like to work

Both H2020 projects were MSCA Individual Fellowships, meaning FAUL acted as a host institution for incoming research fellows rather than coordinating multi-partner consortia. This explains the absence of recorded consortium partners: MSCA-IF is a two-party arrangement between the fellow and the host. Working with FAUL likely means engaging a focused academic research group with deep domain expertise, not a large network hub — they offer research depth and academic credibility rather than consortium-building reach.

FAUL's recorded H2020 network is minimal — zero consortium partners and zero countries collaborated with — because both projects were MSCA Individual Fellowships, a grant type that does not require multi-partner consortia. Their real professional network in architectural heritage and BIM is likely broader than the H2020 data reflects.

What sets them apart

FAUL sits at a rare intersection: a school of architecture with technical depth in BIM standards and digital survey methods, applied specifically to European historic building stock. Unlike generic BIM consultancies, they bring academic research rigor and direct access to real heritage case studies (including Portuguese baroque architecture) that commercial firms rarely have. For a consortium that needs both architectural domain knowledge and technical BIM expertise in a heritage context, FAUL covers both without needing a separate partner.

Highlights from their portfolio

• Quad2BIM
  The larger and more recent of the two projects (€221,723, 2020–2023), it tackles one of the hardest problems in heritage digitization — creating fully standards-compliant H-BIM Level 3 models from laser scans of complex baroque spaces, including illusionist painted ceilings.
• 3D-SMoHC
  An early open-science framing (2017–2019) for 3D heritage models, notable for positioning heritage documentation as open data infrastructure rather than proprietary deliverables.