3D Scan Historic Buildings Consultants would love to hear from you if you require 3D Scanning Services for your projects.
Historic Buildings
At 3D Scan Consultants we’re tasked with a wide variety of projects encompassing clean contemporary Architecture, Commercial and Retail to Industrial, Military and Transportation, through to ornate Historic Buildings.
We get access to environments that few others might ever see, for security, safety or other reasons, and we’re often fascinated by the environments we enter. Historic Buildings in particular are interesting to explore, to 3D Scan, and to 3D Model. Some are immensely ornate, some simply have an “air” about them. We’re often left wondering just what events, people and circumstances these buildings may have witnessed. Then we consider just how long this building has stood for, the overall current integrity of the building, and then how long it will be here for, long after we’re gone.
In essence, these buildings outlive us, and our role in preservation is as caretakers. We’re just a very minute component of the ongoing efforts by countless others over decades to ensure that these buildings will be here to be enjoyed for future generations. We love to be an integral part of these efforts and the technology we use is almost unimaginable for the original constructors of these buildings – We love this with a passion!
Challenges of Historic Buildings
For 3D Scan Consultants, in respect of the interesting challenges posed by historic buildings, there are many, though they’re easily overcome.
The buildings have endured extreme weather events, earthquakes and have often seen changing use scenarios through the years. These buildings have been added to and modified, MEP (Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing) and HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) has been changed and updated. Often it’s obvious where changes and additions have taken place, due to evolving construction methods through the years, while sometimes it’s hard to tell. In most every case, accurate existing drawings are either non-existent or, are an unreliable patchwork of historic documents.
Historic buildings, for the most part “settle” over time. Facets; floors, walls and ceilings are not the flat “true” surfaces they might appear to be. Door frames & window apertures are often not dimensionally “square”, though certainly they probably were when constructed.
For designers, architects and engineers, tasked with expensive refurbishment or changes and additions, dimensional accuracy is a requirement at the outset, and surfaces which are not “True” or predictable are essential reference.
3D Scan Technology
Our 3D Scanning capabilities reliably document these nuanced changes and accurately record the current “as-built” realities of the architectural features and structure. From a 3D modeling perspective, the sky is the limit, however, there are some practical decisions to be made.
Our principal 3D BIM Modeling software is Revit, an industry standard BIM software. Revit is engineered to efficiently create BIM geometry from Point clouds, and it’s extremely effective in most use cases. However, historic buildings pose special challenges.
Ornate features, which are not a speciality of Revit, can be modeled up to a point. In some cases, where additional detail is a requirement, 3D Scan Consultants request that these areas are highlighted by the client at the outset so that emphasis, while 3D scanning, can be placed upon these areas and features. In cases where a higher level of detail is required for ornate features, we have a number of options for modeling, or for supplying “Mesh” files derived from the 3D Scan Data. Please let us know your requirements.
Walls, floors & ceilings which are inconsistent, and which deviate from true can, again, be modeled to reflect these deviations up to a point. In these cases, Revit will normally be satisfactory, since our modeling team can typically reflect the actual reality to a more than acceptable degree. We can accommodate for much of this deviation within our standard LOD 200 Templates (See: 3D scan Consultants – 3D Modeling Templates), though we will model to higher Level of Detail per client requirements.
3D LiDAR Laser Scanning & 3D Revit BIM Modeling
In addition to 3D LiDAR Laser Scanning & 3D Revit BIM Modeling, 3D Scan Consultants are able to offer a number of complimentary services including 2D Plans & Elevations, Photographic Documentation and Matterport Scanning. Matterport Scanning is most often associated with Real Estate Virtual Tours, but it’s also a highly useful 3D Tool to complement 3D Scanning (See: 3D Scan Consultants – Services)
3CD Scan Consultant’s Principal, Victor Arvizu, has a passion for both history & architecture, reflected in his Bachelor of Science in Anthropology and a Master of Architecture from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. His 12 years of experience in 3D Scanning & Modeling has involved numerous Historic Buildings and Sites.
3D Scan Consultants are excited to be involved in the restoration and maintenance of these historic buildings, and in doing so, honoring the vision, skill, hard work and commitment of those that have gone before us.
Please contact 3D Scan Consultants at +1 855 761 5530, or visit 3D Scan Consultants for a quotation.
