This study examines the relevance of Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) for documenting and reconstructing architectural heritage elements that have partially or completely disappeared over time, using the remains of the service staircase of the Infantado Palace (Guadalajara) as a case study. Approaches based solely on historical plans cannot verify their reliability without physical evidence for contrast. Based on a critical analysis of existing historical plans and an updated survey using a Terrestrial Laser Scanner (FARO Focus 3D S120), a reconstructive hypothesis is proposed for the 16th-century service staircase. The 3D scanning revealed initial evidence of the previous structure’s existence; within the Palace’s historical–constructive context (15th–16th centuries), the study analyzes the 19th-century floor plans by the Madrid School of Architecture and the Geographic and Statistical Institute, evaluating their correspondence with current spaces. The methodology integrates 3D point cloud surveying, documentary analysis, metric comparison, and the development of an HBIM (Heritage Building Information Modeling) model as the tool through which the reconstruction proposal is materialized and adjusted to empirical evidence, contrasting historical sources with physical evidence. The results reveal discrepancies between historical plans and a previously undocumented constructive reality, confirming the advantage of empirical contrast over documentary analysis. Consequently, the survey made it possible to precisely locate the elements needed to propose the reconstruction of the service staircase. The originality of this study lies in shifting TLS from mere graphic documentation toward the hypothetical reconstruction of disappeared elements, extending its use to research on the historical spatial functioning of buildings.
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López-Viejo et al. (2026) studied this question.