Site Mapping

 

My next task for this project was to construct a site map for Piney Croft before we are scheduled to do the scanning of the site. The goal for this stage of the project was to create two separate site maps with one being done from a distance using only google maps to discern where to scan which is to replicate the scenario of a far away site that we cannot visit before scanning. The second was done with the benefit of living nearby the site in mind by visiting the site physically to plan where the scanner would go.

                The first site map in figure one was completed before I visited Piney Croft with the white markers denoting where the scanner would go. There are a few concepts that influence where I placed the markers which include avoiding or scanning around trees and other obstructions, scanning on corners, scanning at a distance as well as up close, overlapping scans, and scanning underneath or behind columns or overhanging eaves. From a distance a few different problems were already prevalent such as the number of visible vegetation and trees prevalent around the property especially along right-hand side. Some of the problems associated with distanced site mapping include the date of the google maps photography as the topography may be different with new obstructions or the removal of the previous one.

Figure 1

                This past weekend I was able to travel to Piney Croft to create a new site map to get that physical element in understanding it. Figure 2 is the site map that came from this visit. A few differences include the shifting of most scan points, the inclusion of more scan points, as well as the inclusion of scan points for locations that I could not recognize on google maps. The overhanging eaves, columned patio in the back, and bushes lining the front meant that I had to adapt the map to accommodate these formations to construct a more complete scan without the allowance of blind spots to develop. One of the biggest benefits of constructing the site map in person was finding that the vegetation situation was different then I both imagined and could perceive from a distance. Trees prevalent on Google Maps are no longer there, likewise, open areas previously devoid of obstructions now had new trees in their place. Additionally, visiting the site in person allows me to see the vista for each spot I would place the scanner which gave me a better idea of the quality of scan I would be getting.

Figure 2

                Another benefit of visiting the site was meeting Christine French whose name popped up a few times in researching local Maitland and Winter Park history in reference to some of the historical homes in the area as well as the interviews with Clifford Wright. She was able to show me around the house and give some great contextual information that can be incorporated as annotations on the final model to create an immersive experience.

                The next step for this project is to actually conduct the laser scanning and photogrammetry at the end of May and then, work to process the scans into a 3D model that can live on the ChronoPoints website. I already complied a photo profile of a bird bath on site, once the model is built it can be used as a comparison of laser scanning and photogrammetry by the end of the internship.

Looking back into 1950s and 1960s Maitland

 

The Piney Croft A-framed home is located in the historic town of Maitland, Florida. As this project seeks to capture the home in 3D using a variety of scanning techniques, it becomes important to contextualize the town of Maitland to better understand the circumstances of its creation within the town’s historical trends.

Maitland was founded in 1838 as Fort Maitland and was primarily a military outpost for U.S soldiers in the Indian wars yet this military outpost would be later decommissioned. In the 1870s, individuals started to move to Maitland and grow citrus, this was further expanded upon with the completion of the railroad stations cutting from Jacksonville south into the Maitland and the central Florida area. The central Florida area experienced a great freeze in 1894-95 which damaged much of the citrus production, yet the area continued to slowly grow over the next few years.  By 1900 the population of Maitland reached 136 people which expanded to 463 over the next forty years. However, in 1950 the population of Maitland almost doubled to 889 and exploded again in 1960 to 3,570. Businesses like the Martin Marietta Corporation moved into the central Florida area which led to the increase of population and architectural development that ballooned to match the rising population.

At this time, many architects would make their name in the central Florida and greater Florida area. Nils Schweizer, a representative of Frank Lloyd Wright who worked on and expanded Florida Southern College also built modernistic houses in Maitland and in the central Florida area throughout the 1950s including the Orlando International Airport, Loch Haven Park, St. Luke’s Episcopal Cathedral, and Orlando’s downtown library. One of Schweizer’s Maitland homes , 829 Nicoma Trail, was built in 1960 and features similar design points found in Clifford Wright’s Piney Croft home, such as the exterior design, sunken living room, central fireplace, and use of 27 feet of glass to let in natural light. Yet, many of Schweizer’s houses are not limited by this trend and many are unique in their design such as Schweizer’s personal home in Maitland built in 1960, his Goldberg house in 1955, as well as the Goldman House in 1965.

Yet, this central Florida boom in construction was not just limited to the likes of Schweizer, but also the likes of James Gamble Rogers II who designed the Florida Supreme Court building but also many Winter Park residences such as the 160 Glenridge home and Barbour residence. Many other architects threw their architectural designs into the central Florida and Maitland stew that brought the countless homes and churches with many different architectural designs into creation including Clifford Wright’s own Piney Croft.

 

"Census of Population and Housing". Census.gov.

“829 Nicoma Trl, Maitland, FL 32751.” Realtor.com. Retrieved March 12^th, 2021. https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/829-Nicoma-Trl_Maitland_FL_32751_M59326-96020.

“About Maitland.” The City of Maitland. Retrieved March 12^th, 2021. https://www.itsmymaitland.com/339/About-Maitland#:~:text=Maitland%2C%20one%20of%20the%20oldest,1838%20by%20the%20U.S.%20Army.

“James Gamble Rogers.” Casa Feliz Historic Home and Venue: Winter Park’s Community Parlor. Retrieved March 12^th, 2021. https://casafeliz.us/james-gamble-rogers.

“Maitland.” Viva Florida 500: History Happened Here. Retrieved March 12^th, 2021. https://vivafl500.org/cities/maitland/

“Mrs. Nils M. Schweizer and Architect Jerry Uhran Special Guest Speakers At Orlando Remembered, January 2020.” Orlando Memory. February 1, 2020. Retrieved March 12^th, 2021 http://orlandomemory.info/events/mrs-nils-m-schweizer-and-architect-jerry-uhran-special-guest-speakers-at-orlando-remembered-january-2020/.

“This 1960s mid-century modern home in Maitland just hit the market.” Orlando Weekly. June 7, 2020. Retrieved March 12^th, 2021. https://photos.orlandoweekly.com/this-1960s-mid-century-modern-home-in-maitland-just-hit-the-market/?slide=1&2298cede1cdcb493b199bb71548164d2l-m121360711xd-w1020_h770_q80.

Candelaria, Michael. “Maitland Neighborhood Guide.” Orlando Sentinel. June 21, 2018. Retrieved March 12^th, 2021. https://www.orlandosentinel.com/classified/realestate/neighborhood-guide/os-et-maitland-neighborhood-guide-2018-htmlstory.html.

Central Florida Modern. Retrieved March 12^th, 2021. https://www.centralfloridamodern.com/residential.

Larson, Brittni. “Maitland Cheers at its birth.” The Orange Observer. July 8, 2010. Retrieved March 12^th, 2021. https://www.orangeobserver.com/article/maitland-cheers-its-birth.

LeBlanc, Karen and Randy Noles. “60s Chic.” Winter Park Magazine. Retrieved March 12^th, 2021.  https://winterparkmag.com/2019/07/08/60s-chic/.

Shanklin, Mary. “Hidden Treasures of Design.” Orlando Sentinel. December 24, 2000. Retrieved March 12^th, 2021. https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-2000-12-24-0012220039-story.html.

Clifford Wright - Maitland and Winter Park's local architect

 

    Clifford William Wright was born at in the hamlet of Oceanside in Nassau county, Long Island, New York on April 15, 1933, yet spent most of his childhood in the Winter Park/Maitland area. He received his Bachelor of Architecture in 1955 got his license and moved across the street from the Meyer family where he would then build a house for them completed in the end of 1959. Clifford Wright’s career focused around the Winter Park, Maitland, and larger Florida area with other buildings being the expansion to the Ortronix Plant completed in 1960 in Goldenrod, the Schroeder Warehouses in Winter park in 1959-1960, a shop in Pine castle in 1959, a food store building in Orlando in 1961, an Apartment building in Sarasota in 1961 and the residence of Allan Hickok in Winter Park 1961 as well as condos in the Maitland and Winter park area around the 1960s.

    Wright spent two months coming up with the design for the Meyer residence and was pushed by Mrs. Meyer’s artistic demands to create the unique A-framed structure. Wright designed the house to be easily cooled despite the 32-foot overhead by allows cooler air to collect towards the bottom of the house, however this property would also make it difficult to heat the house in the winter, so Wright designed a brick fire place to help for Florida’s short winters. In designing the Meyer family’s residence, he was challenged to anchor the tall 32-foot A-framed structured against hurricanes and other strong winds. The answer was using steel plates to clamp the support beams in the center structure and anchor them into large pieces of concrete buried underneath the ground.

                The house was of a modern design in 1959 by following the recent trend of A-framed houses started in 1957 by Andrew Geller and designed with a sunken living room, wall to wall carpet, aluminum construction and newly prefabricated wooden beams and thirty two double glass windows along the two major A-framed walls. Wright balanced the unique structure with two traditional expansions on both sides of the A-framed featuring additional bedrooms and bathrooms on one side and a three-car garage on the other.

"New Home Will Offer Refreshing Taste in Design; Modern Thought Used in Dramatic A-Frame,” Orlando Sentinel, Oct. 4, 1959, p. 3

Interview and House Tour with Piney Croft Architect Clifford Wright, Sunday, April 29, 2018.

"WRIGHT, CLIFFORD W(ILLIAM). AIA 57. Mid-Florida Chapter." AIA Historical Directory of American Architects.
https://aiahistoricaldirectory.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/AHDAA/pages/20677106/1962+American+Architects+Directory

"Ortronix Inc. Building Storage Space for Overflow." Orlando Evening Star, Feb. 9, 1961, p. 7

"Campus Would Rather be 'Wright'." Miami Herald, Mar. 18, 1973, p. 231

A-Framed Houses

    This past week I investigated the architecture of the A-frame house design. As the house that we are capturing in 3D on Piney Croft lane in Maitland later this summer is an A-frame house, it is worth studying the historical significance of this architectural design.

    A frame houses have been around for quite some time cropping up across the world in places like Japan, Polynesia, and Switzerland, yet the first instance applying this architectural style here in the U.S was done by Rudolph Schindler, a former employee of Frank Lloyd Wright, in 1934 when he built an A-framed house in California. However, it was not until after WWII that the popularity of the A-framed house soared in tandem with a movement to have a second, vacation styled, home. In 1957, however, is when Andrew Geller built an A-frame house along the beach for approximately $7,000 for a client and achieved some acclaim in a New York Times story on May 5th 1957. A-framed houses have since climbed in popularity before falling off in the 1970s with a rise in popularity once again in recent years.     

    It was around the A-frame’s original rise in popularity that Clifford Wright built the A-framed Maitland home in 1959 just two years after the New York Times article featured Geller’s beach project.

    The general structure of an A-frame house features two angled walls that meet together at the top of the house forming a triangle where the ceiling and walls are continuous and lead into the ground where they are generally supported into an anchor. A cross beam cutting the triangle in half horizontally is generally present inside the structure and is used to not only support the household but create additional useable space. A benefit of using A-frames is the unique view points they have as well as the lower construction cost associated with them, and many A-frames use glass facades to not only let in natural light, but maximize the view outdoors.

    Wright’s Piney Croft structure follows a few of these norms by using the cross beams as support for what was described as a master bedroom and using glass to maximize the natural light and views. However, Wright does not limit the space of the house to a traditional A-frame as he expanded on the structure with standard house extensions centered around the tall central A-framed structure. However, Wright’s use of lateral space is different then some of its predecessors or contemporaries. While other A-framed houses are either short in stature or make use of lateral space to support two lofts or an entire second floor, Wright uses the 32-foot height to support a sleeping loft in the front of the house while keeping a high, uninterrupted ceiling in the central and rear portions of the A-frame.

A-frame designed in 1934 by Schindler. https://www.archilovers.com/projects/202445/gisela-bennati-house-in-lake-arrowhead-ca-rudolf-schindler.html

A-framed designed by Geller in 1957. https://www.fieldmag.com/articles/history-of-aframe-house-modern-design

The 1957 Geller house. Notice the cross beams and loft. https://www.fieldmag.com/articles/history-of-aframe-house-modern-design

The 1959 Wright house built in Maitland, FL. Notice the more traditional styled housing extensions. The photo itself is undated.

The design of the 1959 Wright house. “New Home Will Offer Refreshing Taste in Design; Modern Thought Used in Dramatic A-Frame,” Orlando Sentinel, Oct. 4, 1959, p. 3

References:

"Andrew Geller, Modernist Architect, Is Dead at 87." New York Times, December 26, 2011.
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/27/arts/design/andrew-geller-modernist-architect-is-dead-at-87.html

"In the Summertime, Living Becomes Even Easier at New Long Island Beach Cottage." New York Times, May 5, 1957, p. 324. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1957/05/05/90802087.html?pageNumber=324

“New Home Will Offer Refreshing Taste in Design; Modern Thought Used in Dramatic A-Frame,” Orlando Sentinel, Oct. 4, 1959, p. 3

https://archive.curbed.com/2017/9/22/16346810/a-frame-homes-architecture-rudolf-schindler

https://www.archilovers.com/projects/202445/gisela-bennati-house-in-lake-arrowhead-ca-rudolf-schindler.html

https://www.fieldmag.com/articles/history-of-aframe-house-modern-design

https://alastairgordonwalltowall.com/2011/12/26/andrew-geller-architect-of-happiness-1924-2011/

Introductory Readings on Terrestrial Laser Scanning

I read two articles which gave me a more introductory look into terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) which detailed two different projects with goals behind them. The first, completed by Karagianni, detailed the use of TLS and used the project of capturing the façade of a historic house as the justification for advocating for TLS. The second project was a larger multi-disciplinary project spanning multiple organizations with the goal to capture the entire Cologne cathedral.

One thing that stood out to me was the wide use of software to achieve the desired results. This is reminiscent of my progress on my previous internship with photogrammetry under the direction of FPAN’s east central office, where I constantly switched to different slicing software for the best tool on a case by case bases. The cathedral project used Z+F LaserControl (v. 6.5), Adobe Photoshop, Leica Cyclone (v. 9.1), Autodesk ReCAP 360 (v.3.1), and ThinkBox Sequoia. All of these were used in the data-processing and visualization segment of the project. Likewise, Karagianni used Erdas Imagine, SCENE, and Pointools Edit. Both projects sought to capture buildings using the same methodology of TLS, but they used different software choices to achieve their results which is interesting that a wide range of software exists and is used for the same process. This make me question if there are certain software choices that bare a high cost, but are considered an industry standard amongst the field?

What is interesting is the limitations present in both works, distance is needed to get a good scan and tight close corridors or alleyways present a problem. Height is also a constant problem as these scanners are traditionally mounted on a tripod and take a few minutes to scan properly. The Karagianni project expressed this limitation and the Cologne cathedral project used scaffolding, extension arms, and the rooftops of nearby buildings to successfully capture most of the complex surfaces of the cathedral and overcome this limitation. This limitation will be present for my internship later on this summer and depending on the location, and scope of the scans, and we may need to explore ways to overcome this problem.

The results of these projects are impressive and scream for visualizations. These two projects helped me understand on how to use different forms of visualizations to make writing about these projects more effective which was something I struggled with in the past regarding my use of photogrammetry. Using a simple visualization like this flow chart helps the reader understand the process of the project in an easy to understand form. Below is screen capture of the flow chart presenting the process of Karagianni’s project.

 

 

The Cologne cathedral project used pictures to help visualize the how regarding the way the limitation of height was overcome to help the reader better understand that project. Below is a screen capture of a few pictures on how they were to visualize their success in overcoming the limitation they encountered.

While the end product of these laser scans, much like photogrammetry, produce eye catching data, visualizations regarding other aspects of these projects are important for contextualizing the process.

 

Karagianni, Aikaterini. “Terrestrial Laser Scanning in Building Documentation.” Civil Engineering and Architecture 5, no. 6 (2017): 215-221.

Pritchard, D., J. Sperner, S. Hoepner, R. Tenschert. “Terrestrial Laser Scanning for Heritage Conservation: The Cologne Cathedral Documentation Project.” ISPRS Annals of the Photogrammetry 4, no. 2 (2017) 213-220

Continuing Down the Path of 3D Preservation: An Expansion into 3D Laser Scanning

    My name is Trevor Colaneri and I am an MA student pursuing a Public History degree at UCF and my research interest are in preserving artifacts in 3D. This past fall I completed my internship with FPAN’s East Central office where I learned the photogrammetric process and applied this to a set of six unprovenienced artifacts from the Sanford Museum with the goal of not only creating 3D models, but printing these artifacts on FDM and SLA printers to have a comparison between printing processes. I used only low-cost methods in order to achieve these to, in part, enter the field on my own dime, and advocate for the increasing low-cost movement within the field. This internship culminated in my presentation at the virtual SHA conference which was also my first entry into the field of conferences.

    This internship for the spring semester is under the direction of Dr. Lori Walters who focuses on the use of terrestrial laser scanners to preserve buildings in 3D. The skills I hope the gain from this internship include the technical skills required to work with terrestrial laser scanners and process the data that comes from them. There is also the potential to work with a handheld structured light scanner as well. This internship will expand my knowledge on the use of 3D scanning technologies to allow me to expand my toolbox in the field of 3D preservation.

    My initial understanding of scanning technologies is this: photogrammetry is a great all around tool that can capture objects drastically different in size but lacks the accuracy of the other methods, the terrestrial laser scanner excels at the accuracy of its data but can only capture objects around the size of most buildings and is not intended for small objects, and the handled structured light scanner which fits nestled between the two with its ability to capture furniture sized objects. With the wide breadth of this internship’s available tools, a comparative approach is a possible avenue to explore as it will not only help me in having an understanding of each methods output but help others as well.

    The internship has tentatively set out a few different goals to accomplish, the scanning a statue on UCF’s campus as an initial test of photogrammetry and laser scanning, followed up by a scan of a structure here in the greater Orlando area such as church in Altamont, and finally scanning the Sugar Mill in New Smyrna. These goals can change in the coming weeks but their concepts behind the approach remains the same. Something local and easy, followed by a structure in the local area, and smaller location that will flex the capabilities of the different scanning methods.

    This internship will function differently to most traditional internships I have done in the past due to COVID-19 restrictions and is planned to start later in the spring semester and continue into the summer to ensure the safety of all participants and as such the blog posts regarding this project will be on an irregular schedule until later into the semester.

Racing against the Sunset: Shifting the Process to Reaching Deadlines

 

This past week I spent creating these merged and complete models, then realizing there are slight imperfections, or areas that I know I can improve, I went back to take more photos and improve on those areas. I have two of the models completed out of the set of six, while six was the arbitrary goal set at the beginning and is flexible, I am determined to finish the other four this coming weekend in order to meet the December 1^st deadline for the conference.

                A recording of my 15-minute PowerPoint presentation on the project is due on the first of December for the Society for Historical Archaeology (SHA) conference . I am willing to condense the number of models I will create down from six if need be but I intend to try and meet this initial goal. This implies I finish the rest of the models and accept the small imperfects in each model instead of the slight tweaking I have been doing this past week. I can always go back and tweak them more after the December 1^st deadline or mention them in the limitations of the project.  The goal besides creating these models is to then print them and compare them in relation to the low-cost methods I am using.

                I adapted some of my methods over the past week and learned more about the capabilities of Metashape, which continues to surprise me the more I use it. A limitation last week was the processing time for each model, and I decided that due to approaching deadlines, I turned the detail down from “High” to “Medium” which processes in about 5 minutes as opposed to an hour which helped me save a lot of time working on this project. This does mean, however, that the quality of the overall model is lower albeit more than acceptable.  I additionally found that the arrow heads have a unique problem with alignment as the automatic alignment of the different chunks does not really work for these sharp and flat pieces. I learned how to manually align these chunks which is a little more time intensive but was the last step to creating the finish model and overall, was not too difficult.

                I am surprised by the quality of these 3D models since the photos themselves were taken on my phone, which is apart of the low-cost of the project, and I have realized over the course of this project that it is the quality of the input that most drastically affects the output. The greatest impact on these models is the number of photos collected in each profile; the lower the amount of photos the worse and blurrier the final result, while the higher the amount of photos collected results in a crisp high definition model. Incomplete, or missing, sections of certain models already send me back to restart the process again which is only made worse if I rush the picture process as the low resolution sends me back to do it again and correctly. This project has taught me to do my due diligence when taking the first step in the modelling process as building off of a poor photo collection is like building on a shaky foundation, it does not matter how much effort I put in after that point because it will only cause my efforts to be less than ideal.

This is one of the completed models. What was the lower half before the merging process had less photos in its profile and resulted in a blurry product. Once merged together with the higher resolution upper half, this creates a slightly jarring result. I am unsure if this will translate through the resin 3D printing process.

Update: Considering this is the last blog for this internship for the Fall 2020 semester I wanted to update my progress on this project since I wrote the blog a few days ago to showcase the goal I achieved. 

I finished three other models and were able to print them over the weekend and wanted to showcase them here. The scale on some of the models is a bit off but can easily be fixed down the road.