Botao Li
Instructor; Ph.D. Candidate
Botao Li
Instructor; Ph.D. Candidate
Education
M.S. Arch, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2022
M. Arch, University of Kansas, 2020
Biography
Botao Li, LEED AP BD+C, is an FAA Certified Remote Pilot and Ph.D. student in Architecture at Georgia Institute of Technology, focusing on the interdisciplinary subject of Heritage Building Information Modeling (HBIM) and utilizing cutting-edge technologies for historic preservation, which include Terrestrial Laser Scanner (TLS), Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) tools, and photogrammetry. At Tech, his work has been integral to several federally sponsored research projects from a National Center of Preservation Training and Technology (NCPTT) grant studying the adapted configuration of an enslaved dwelling-turned-tenant farm within the Smithsonian Institution’s assets to defect monitoring at a former equalization school in Atlanta, sponsored by a National Park Service (NPS) African American Civil Rights Grant.
Li is developing expertise in various material studies, melding architectural history with reality capture, digital visualization, and machine learning technologies. He has worked with several heritage documentation and research projects in Atlanta, GA, Penn Center, SC, Marion, AL, Valencia, Spain, and Gazipaşa, Türkiye. He is the leading effort on the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) submission for the First Congregational Church of Marion, archived in the Library of Congress. Li is also actively engaged as a leader in ConCave, a Ph.D. student-led group within the School of Architecture with a record of award-winning publications and successful international symposiums. Prior to starting his doctoral study in 2022, Li attended Georgia Tech in 2021 for the Master of Science in Architecture program, specializing in computational design, and he earned the professional degree, Master of Architecture, from the University of Kansas in 2020.
Statement of Teaching Interest
Heritage Building Information Modeling, Reality Capture, Scan, Photogrammetry, Digital Preservation, Historic Preservation.
Statement of Research Interest
Botao Li, LEED AP BD+C, is an FAA Certified Remote Pilot and Ph.D. student in Architecture at Georgia Institute of Technology, focusing on the interdisciplinary subject of Heritage Building Information Modeling (HBIM) and utilizing cutting-edge technologies for historic preservation, which include Terrestrial Laser Scanner (TLS), Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) tools, and photogrammetry.
- Li, B., & Willkens, D. S. (2026). Digital transformation through multi-device HBIM workflow: a case study on supporting the adaptive reuse of the Odd Fellows Building in Atlanta, Georgia. Frontiers in Built Environment, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fbuil.2025.1720481
- Li, B., Willkens, D., Alathamneh, S., Park, S. C., & Liu, J. (2025). Digitally Decoding Heritage: Analyzing the Sellman Tenant House Through HBIM and Digital Documentation Techniques. Virtual Worlds, 4(1), 10. https://doi.org/10.3390/virtualworlds4010010
- Li, B., & Liu, J. (2025). From HBIM to Digital Twins (DT): Developing a Sustainable Framework for Historic Asset Management. Divergence in Architectural Research: Proceeding Book of ConCave Ph.D. Symposium 2024, Atlanta, USA.
- Li, B., Rakha, T., Gentry, R., Willkens, D., Liu, J., & Irizarry, J. (2024). Automating built heritage inspection using unmanned aerial systems: A defect management framework based on Heritage Building Information Modelling (HBIM). In B. Tejedor Herrán & D. Bienvenido-Huertas (Eds.), Diagnosis of Heritage Buildings by Non-Destructive Techniques. Woodhead Publishing.
- Li, B., Zeng, Q., Gentry, R., & Willkens, D. (2022). Establishing A Decision-Making Support Framework for Optimizing Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Flight Planning to Monitor Heritage Building Defects. 2022 The Digital Reality of Tomorrow Conference, Fredericton, Canada.