Architectural Survey

A 3D architectural survey captures the exact geometry of an existing building through 3D laser scanning and photogrammetry, then restitutes it as a registered point cloud that faithfully mirrors the site. This scan-to-BIM approach gives renovation, retrofit, and heritage projects a reliable base to design from, especially when original drawings are missing, incomplete, or no longer match reality.

How the Survey Works

The mission starts with a field survey: laser scanner stations are set up at strategic points throughout the building, complemented where needed by photogrammetry captures, to cover façades, interior volumes, and hard-to-reach construction details. Each station records millions of points. The point clouds from every station are then registered together using dedicated processing software, producing a single, coherent point cloud at the building's true scale. A quality check verifies registration accuracy before moving to restitution: extracting plans, sections and elevations, or modeling a digital model at the level of detail the project requires.

What You Receive

The base deliverable is the registered point cloud, provided in a standard open exchange format (E57), at a resolution matched to the use case: denser for fine heritage documentation, lighter for a simple dimensional check. An optional 3D mesh can be generated on top of it for visualization or 3D printing needs. Derived 2D drawings — floor plans, sections, elevations — are extracted directly from the point cloud and delivered in a vector format usable by the engineering firms and architects handling the renovation or retrofit design.

When You Need It

A 3D building scan survey becomes essential before any major renovation or retrofit, when archived drawings no longer reflect a building's real condition after decades of successive alterations. It produces a reliable as-built record for an owner, a co-ownership association, or a facility operator, or documents a heritage building as part of a conservation project. 3D architecture scanning removes the dimensional errors typical of manual surveying and de-risks the design phases that follow: structural, interior fit-out, or extension feasibility studies.

Frequently Asked Questions

How accurate is a registered point cloud? Accuracy depends on the equipment used and station density, but a well-executed 3D building scan survey commonly reaches a high level of precision suited to the project's requirements, more than sufficient for construction drawings. Does the building need to be vacated during the survey? No — field survey work generally proceeds without significant disruption to occupied spaces, beyond the areas being scanned at any given moment. Is the point cloud enough to start design work, or is a full digital model required? It depends on the project: a straightforward retrofit file can work from derived 2D drawings alone, while a full scan-to-BIM model is recommended for complex operations involving several trades.