Adaptive Reuse Project Transforms With Lasers

AUTUM C. PYLANT, NEWS EDITOR, autum.pylant@photonics.com

A church in Scottsdale, Ariz., is being renovated and turned into commercial office and retail space with help from a 3D laser scanner.

The church, located in the heart of Old Town, has high ceilings, exposed wood beams, stained glass, and many nooks and crannies that could be missed with the human eye. That’s where Eco3d — a portfolio company for Ecoark Holdings Inc. — comes into play.

3D laser-scanned image of the Meetinghouse at 3080. Courtesy of Eco3d.

Using a FARO Focus X330 laser scanner with a measurement speed of up to 976,000 points per second and a ranging error of less than 2 mm, the scan significantly cut the man-hours it would have taken had the measurements been done manually. Ken Smerz, president and CEO of Eco3d, told Photonics Media the laser scanner was chosen for this Structured Real Estate adaptive reuse project because of its short range accuracy and speed.

“The scan only took half a day, even with setting the scanner up in multiple positions to capture the whole site,” said Smerz. “The scanner provides a noncontact, comprehensive, highly accurate measurement.”

The outside of the Meetinghouse at 3080. It was once a church and will be converted to commercial office and retail space. Courtesy of Structured Real Estate.

Eco3d scanned the inside and outside of the building now known as Meetinghouse at 3080, digitally documenting the structure with an 83-station scan. With a resolution of three million points per scan the process helped Structured Real Estate see parts of the building that were difficult to measure manually, eliminating additional time and cost for the project.

Conor Keilty, development manager at Structured Real Estate, said it was imperative to have a complete understanding and accurate representation of the building’s existing conditions to go forward with the adaptive reuse project.

“Eco3d’s laser scanning technology allows us to gain that understanding in record time by replacing days of field measuring and dozens of visits to the site with the convenience of flying through the point cloud model at our office,” said Keilty. “The laser scan allowed us to uncover details and conditions that would have gone unnoticed until construction, enabling coordination and resolution of conflicts before they ever occurred.”

3D image cut to see inside of building. Courtesy of Eco3d, a portfolio company of Ecoark Holdings Inc.

Eco3d’s portion of the project may be finished as their laser-scanning resources were utilized in the entry stage of the process, but their impact will be seen for a long time.

“This is absolutely the future. Currently in the industry, we are at the very early stages of adoption,” said Smerz. “Laser scanning measurement technology is being used in less than 6 percent of potential applications, therefore the democratization of this technology in the marketplace over the next few years will be sensational to watch.”