The Devil is in the Detail

Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, in the North East of Scotland, is unique in the quantity and quality of historic heritage, building and environments in existence and is now at risk. As exemplified by the likes of Historic Scotland’s current signature project, “The Scottish Ten”, high-definition scanning is a recognised method for the accurate portrayal of objects in 3-d digital environments. The technology is some of the most advanced in the built environment, yet the process of data collection is much simpler and quicker than more traditional methods of surveying. It is a powerful aid to the recording and future treatment of historic buildings and their environment. This study, as an exemplar, focuses on buildings of significant risk (of demolition or disrepair). These include examples of church and theatre architecture, where interior detail and mass are central to the design. The buildings studied are also notable due to the presence of large open volumes and decorative ornamentation, which would be extremely difficult to record through traditional surveying methods. High definition scanners collect a ‘point cloud’, which is assembled using scans taken from selected locations. The process followed in this study was similar to that reported previously in the literature (Barber et al. 2006; Arayici 2007, Brown et al 2008), where a range of techniques have been used to employ the resultant dataset within architectural modelling. The data provides an accurate geometrical record of a building or structure, and can be utilised within three dimensional surface modelling, visualisation of the built heritage, and potentially within rapid prototyping. The collection of this data will add significantly to our collective knowledge and, more importantly, can be digitally presented and disseminated more widely.