Laser Scanning at Fallingwater: Day 1

O4d began its first laser scanning commission through the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy at Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater in Mill Run, PA. Many have asked us "just what exactly is laser scanning" and "how does the process work?" Hopefully, this blog post, and the ones that follow, will help demonstrate this technology, its process, and its application to analysis and design.


Here, the great gesture of modern architecture meets today's standard for electronic documentation: the Faro Laser Scanner! This fabulous piece of equipment is part of O4d's in-house repertoire, a unique holding for landscape architects. Our intent is to utilize this technology as a stand-alone service for site and architecture documentation, particularly for historic resources. We also intend to incorporate the laser scanning technology into our design process, enabling our team to make smarter site design decisions. Our goal is to be able to assist our clients in developing BIM modeling and process for their projects.



The field operation of the laser scanner is rather simple. As demonstrated above, Charlie (the resident expert of O4d) guides Michael Hasenmyer (assistant professor at West Virginia University) during the processing of raw data. The laser is positioned on a tripod, aimed at the target, and controlled by an operator from a laptop. The laptop runs software that controls the rotation of the laser as well as the scanning resolution.

Data, in both 3D and point-cloud, is ready for immediate viewing once the scan is complete. We are able to quickly assess the quality of the image, and make necessary changes. Once the desired image and quality is achieved, the image and corresponding data is saved to the laptop.

The above image is an example of unprocessed data from the laser scanner as it would be displayed on the field laptop. The laser scanner was positioned on the bridge to the main house. The length of time necessary for the scanner to capture the detail in the field at this resolution was roughly 5 minutes.

Here, Charlie is placing the marker "orbs" along the path around the house. These orbs allow the modeling software to "merge" several scans in the same area. The data to the right depicts the orbs; after processing, the orbs will not appear in the final rendering of data.

We will be returning to Fallingwater in the upcoming weeks to continue documentation of the exterior as well as the interior and her extensive art collection. Please check back for new images and details of the process!

Please Note: Images copyrighted by Origin4design and used by permission of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy