As Architecture students, we are familiar with both orthographic projection and perspectival imagery, as our key tools for design documentation and representation. Perhaps more unfamiliar to us is the ‘post-orthographic’, which John May’s Everything is Already an Image proposes as a new age of architectural image.
As May puts it, “if orthography was predicated on linear historical time, materialised in texts, drawings, and mechanical clocks, post-orthographic technical systems, now enmesh our work in ‘real time,’ materialised in signals and image-models.” New methods of capturing image data are expanding our representation techniques beyond image, model and orthography, bringing about in-between modes which can be very useful for Architectural design.
LiDAR scan of Fletcher Jones Factory, Warrnambool.
Scans conducted during University of Melbourne studio “We’re Glad You’re Here!”, led by Ben Waters.
LiDAR
LiDAR is a surveying tool that rapidly emits laser light pulses and records a point each time the light is reflected from a targeted object or surface. LiDAR scanners can combine multiple laser scans to create an expansive picture of a site. Using software such as CloudCompare, we can import the LiDAR data as a ‘point cloud’, a model-like recreation of a site formed through millions of data points. This can then be converted into a mesh object and exported into almost all 3D design software.
Using ‘real-time’ point cloud models, we can create infinite orthographic drawings or images that describe site and context. We can also create rendered fly-through videos or export single frame imagery of the site. The point cloud also acts as highly detailed reference to build our own 3D models or orthographic drawings.
What is so useful about LiDAR is that it allows us to survey a site and capture topography, building tectonics and spatial arrangements with great precision. This is a valuable tool, especially when working on projects that involve complex existing site conditions such as heritage or retrofit projects.
Unfortunately, given their advanced technology, LiDAR scanners are expensive and rare. The best way to access LiDAR technology is through your university makerspace or technology loans program. However, there are other more accessible tools available for achieving ‘real-time’ surveying.
LiDAR process of Fletcher Jones Factory, Warrnambool.
LiDAR process of Fletcher Jones Factory, Warrnambool.
LiDAR scan of Fletcher Jones Factory, Warrnambool.
LiDAR scan of Fletcher Jones Factory, Warrnambool.
Photogrammetry
Photogrammetry is another technique of capturing precise spatial information, but with far less high-tech equipment.
Using apps such as Polycam, I have created my own 3D models using my phone. The app prompts you to take a video of an object you want to scan, aiming to capture as many angles as possible. It then takes the image frames from the video and stitches them together to create a 3D mesh, mapping the associated image texture onto it.
While this is a great tool for capturing site detail, I like to use it to create models of real-world objects, which I use to convey occupancy and spatial appropriation in my renders. Using my own 3D-scanned objects allows me to have more control of the type of rendered scenes and atmospheres I want to create.
There are many other apps and software that achieve a similar outcome. Metashape allows you to take a similar approach, in a more manual way – feeding your own images into the software to be stitched together in a high-resolution model.
Plug-ins such as Blosm for Blender also use photogrammetry. This app works to compile imagery from Google Earth to form high-resolution site models. This is another great way to access site-specific information and create imagery to support your design research.
Polycam Model Render
Polycam Model Render
Polycam Model Processes
Blosm for Blender Site Render