Use of LiDAR Technology for the Study and Analysis of Construction Phases and Deformations in the Gothic Church of Biar (Spain)

Abstract

This work provides new data on the church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción in Biar, combining the investigation of documentary sources with the analysis of the geometry obtained using LiDAR technology and the study of stone materials. This monument has a Proto-Renaissance façade of great architectural value, as it was the first building in the province of Alicante, in Spain, to use Renaissance decorations at the beginning of the 16th century. Its main façade reflects the four centuries of its construction from the 15th to the 18th centuries. The building has been digitised using LiDAR technology and photogrammetry. The graphic representation of the point cloud obtained from the aforementioned techniques makes it possible to study deformations in colour gradient with respect to a reference plane. The results obtained after the analysis of these data show that the method used in this work has served to detect and corroborate the constructive evolutions of the church obtained from the documentary sources investigated. This work serves as an example for similar works, proposing the incorporation of the analysis of anomalies in the geometry of the facings as a new variable that should be considered to complement the rest of the usual studies, bringing to light deformations and irregularities that at first sight may go unnoticed.