All this week on our Facebook and Instagram pages, we’ve been promoting a digital scavenger hunt with Toad Hall Books & Records to showcase our digital scanning technology. (Shameless plug: Take part in the hunt! Walk through the space below, then answer these five questions for your chance to win a gift card to Toad Hall or Wired Cafe.)
Toad Hall is just one of hundreds of scans that our team has performed in recent years. Beyond the ‘wow’ factor, what value does digital scanning have for your project? Here are a few different ways that we use our scanning platforms:
Construction: Each scan combines 3D imaging with spatial data and measurement data to create a digital ‘twin’ of the physical space. The result is called a ‘point cloud’, a collection of data points plotted in 3D space, which can then be referenced in our drawing software. As you can imagine, this can reduce the amount of site visits our team needs to make. The ‘doors’ of the digital space are always open for a walk-through at any time.
Restoration: Each scan is its own time capsule. It’s a point in time that visualizes what a particular space looked like. When we’re dealing with preservation or adaptive reuse projects, it’s important that we document the existing conditions of spaces that need to retain their historic character. For example, this scan of The Hobbs Building in downtown Aurora, Illinois has aided coordination between us and our structural consultants, both off-site, to determine a solution for reinforcing the flooring while maintaining the historic tin ceiling details of the floor below.
There is value is scanning a renovated building as well. Should a space become damaged or compromised, the scan provides a visual documentation of what it looked like.
Virtual Tours: Digital scans are a great complement to marketing, communication, and community-building efforts. For years, our team has partnered with Alignment Rockford to conduct job shadowing and interviews with Rockford Public School students. Even in the midst of the pandemic, our scanning platform allowed us to conduct a virtual tour of our office. Check it out below! As you walk through the space, you’ll see a series of tags throughout; some pins link to staff interviews, which help students understand our career path as well as a typical workday for our team, and other pins link to examples of the work described in our interviews.
Is the virtual tour intended to replace in-person visits? Absolutely not! But the scanning platform allows our staff, our work, and even our office to be accessible and relevant throughout the pandemic.
No matter the project or business endeavor, there’s a good chance that a digital scan of your building will be a great companion to your physical building. Contact us. Let’s explore how we can make a scan work for you!
Michael Smith
“Cities are for people. It is up to us to make sure they can navigate them in a way that fits their plans, not ours.”
Urban Planner
msmith@studiogwa.com
