University Campus Heritage Building Documentation
St Lucia, Brisbane QLD · Client: University Facilities Management
Area Scanned
6,200 sqm (4 buildings)
Time on Site
10 days
Sector
Architectural & BIM
Deliverables
5 formats
Overview
Four heritage-listed sandstone buildings on a Brisbane university campus required full 3D documentation as part of a long-term conservation management plan. The buildings, constructed between 1910 and 1940, featured cloisters, arched walkways, and ornate facades that had never been accurately measured. We scanned each building over two weeks, working around academic timetables to avoid lecture disruption. Interior scans covered lecture theatres, offices, stairwells, and roof voids. External facades were captured at high resolution to record individual stone block geometry, mortar joint widths, and weathering patterns. The final dataset comprised 340 million points per building, delivered as a navigable 3D viewer alongside traditional orthographic drawings. The conservation architect used cross-section slices through the point cloud to analyse structural movement in walls and verify plumb alignment of columns.
01 Challenge
Buildings were fully occupied during semester. Cloistered walkways created tight sightlines requiring many scan stations. Some roof voids were accessible only through 600mm hatches.
02 Solution
Scanning was scheduled during mid-semester break for high-traffic areas. Cloister columns were captured with the BLK360 G2 positioned between columns at 2m intervals. Roof voids were accessed by inserting the scanner on an extendable mount through ceiling hatches, with remote triggering via tablet.
03 Outcome
The university now holds a permanent, measurable 3D record of four heritage buildings. The conservation architect extracted 280 linear metres of crack mapping from the point cloud, identifying three areas of active structural movement that were not visible during a visual walk-through inspection.
Equipment Used
- Trimble X7
- NavVis MLX
- Trimble RealWorks
- Autodesk Recap
- Autodesk Revit
Deliverables
- E57 Point Cloud
- RCP/RCS for Revit
- Orthographic Facade Elevations
- 3D Web Viewer
- Conservation Condition Report
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