American writer and publisher John Bartlett once wrote, ‘An antique is anything old with class.’ Though not necessarily antique, old commercial or retail buildings are sometimes classy enough to keep around, and in most cases, they can be modified to become welcome residential spaces. As it is with many things that are old, care must be taken in the process of such developments. One of the modern methods used to do so is scan to BIM or point cloud to BIM.

What are the factors that developers must consider in this process?

In general, hidden or undetected or unaccounted defects in old buildings can increase construction risks, one of the prime incentives for developers to use design professionals with relevant experience.

Apartment complexes typically require a repetitive provision of near-identical units. Old hotels or industrial buildings, such as mills or warehouses with large regular floor plates and structural grids, can be reinvented to serve as new apartment blocks. Industrial buildings such as these are usually more flexible and present fewer problems during conversion.

Sometimes, a warehouse can have too much depth to provide natural light, which can be solved by inserting atria. Old buildings can also have low ceilings or other physical limitations. Conversion to a residential unit may involve adapting irregular spaces, upgrading of fabric to meet sound transmission and ensuring that building services successfully cater to modern thermal requirements.

Point clouds and point cloud models can help enable these processes. Although architectural drawings may show how a building may look and objects can be described using formulae, they cannot always convey the details and true imagery of an old building.

What are point clouds and what do they do?

They capture the coordinates of a single point in a building, and when a group of points have their coordinates recorded, they become a point cloud, where each point in the point cloud holds an extensive amount of data which can then by utilised to create a detailed 3D model of an existing structure. Specialist software helps develop a virtual copy of the building from the data captured in a laser scan.

The 3D models created this way can store detailed and immersive information about an old building, which can then by integrated, accessed, modified and viewed during the design process. Processing point clouds is fast, simple and permit the access of information from anywhere.

Benefits of Point Clouds to Transform Old Buildings

Working Offsite

Improved Coordination & Design

Avoiding Errors

To conclude, point cloud models help old buildings transform into residences or residential units while attempting to retain their old-world charm. With the right scan to BIM services support, designers can avail of accurate and reliable point cloud to MEP BIM services to convert point clouds to MEP models, so that old buildings find a new purpose.