Scanning a storied icon By Mary Jo Wagner
In the city center of Bergen, Norway, the building at Nygårdsgaten 5 has a storied history––literally. Commanding nearly the entire block, it was the house of Stein Rokkan, a Norwegian philosopher and political scientist, and then the home of Bergens Tidende (BT), Norway’s daily regional newspaper. Although BT moved their offices 20 years ago, the structure is still called the BT building, and today, it accommodates the University of Bergen's (UiB) social science center, photo archives, and various UiB offices. Now, this 150-year-old building is having its story rewritten again. In a move to meet UiB’s needs for a more functional working envi- ronment, the university decided it was time to completely reconstruct the interior of Nygårdsgaten 5 –– all 2,560 square meters (27,560 sq feet) of it. Wanting to maintain the heritage and integrity of the build- ing’s façade, the internal transformation will create a contemporary, welcoming, and flexible space for seven of its administrative divisions, including modern workplaces, meeting rooms, and a large common canteen. Capturing such a massive building would not only be a significant challenge in scanning and data processing but adding to the complexity were two additional aspects: the building has wall-to-wall windows, and surveying and scanning accuracy requirements ranged from 0.5 mm to 2 mm, respectively. “The scope of this work was intense,” says Svein Ivar Vestbø, a survey engineer with Geomatikk Survey, located in Bergen. “The architect needed a 3D model of the building’s façade at a precision of 2 millime- ters which would require a huge number of scans. And it has more than 500 windows and other glassed features. That means the scanner would shoot through windows and collect millions of extraneous data points inside the building, which would add complexity to the data process- ing. Also, our measurements of the heights of the multiple floors inside the building needed to be within 0.5 mm, which is incredibly tight.” Such a tall order required precise, efficient scanning and surveying technology, robust data-processing software, and an innovative data- integration approach. Vestbø and his team leveraged these three skill sets and delivered the 3D data depth and breadth needed to help mod- ernize and transform the historic building. Setting up for scanning Geomatikk Survey was awarded the BT contract in mid-December 2018. A three-phased project, company surveyors would first need to scan the building’s façade, roof, courtyards, and backyards; second, measure and calculate its varying floor heights; and third, scan the existing walls and spaces after the interior is demolished.
The proposed design of the BT building’s new front entrance and vision for some of the interior infrastructure. Photo credit: Geomatikk Survey
A boxy structure, the BT building measures 26 m high, 64 m long and 40 m wide (85 ft high, 210 ft long, 131 ft wide) and contains 10 floors. In overall footprint, that equates to about two Olympic-sized swimming pools. Five days after winning the project, Vestbø was in the field to begin phase one. Standing in front of the building, the structure’s size didn’t concern him, but the possibility of snow did. “I hadn’t captured such a massive building before, but I knew the capabilities of the SX10 and that it can scan anything, big or small,” The BT building present day. At 2,560 square meters, the 150-year-old building engulfs an entire city block. Photo credit: UiB.
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csengineermag.com february 2020
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