Midwestern Consulting

Data point cloud from the UT project

(Norcross, GA, 13 July 2010) The iconic Founders Hall at the University of Texas at Dallas is undergoing a speedy HVAC renovation and upgrade thanks in part to Midwestern Consulting, an engineering and surveying consulting firm, and its use high definition laser scanning technology.

Founders Hall was the first permanent structure built at the University soon after it was established in 1969. In 2009, the University initiated a $27.8 million renovation of the structure to improve energy efficiency and update classrooms, laboratories and meeting rooms in all three structures while adding modern amenities.

A key part of the efficiency improvements was to upgrade the complex’s existing 35,000-sq-ft HVAC piping and equipment located in the basement of the original Founders Hall Building C.

Using a Leica HDS 6000 from Leica Geosystems, Midwestern surveyors scanned the basement over the course of a week, collecting nearly 5.5 billion points of information. Then, with help from Ceeko, Inc., a data capture, processing and visualization firm, created a color-coding 3D model.

Brandon Walker, senior project manager with Midwestern Consulting, says, “With the 3D model, the architect and contractor were able to digitally compare the HVAC renovations with existing conditions and avoid potential clashes. We estimate that laser scanning saved at least three major conflicts, at an estimated $15,000 per conflict, on the project and three weeks time.

The Founders Hall renovation project is on schedule for completion in fall 2010.

3D building data collected for a previous project generated accurate elevation drawings for a new project and saved the client time and money.  Scanning data collected during an initial project can be re-visited to create continued value for the client.

In the spring of 2008, Midwestern Consulting was hired by the historic preservation team of JJR, LLC/HopkinsBurns Design Studio to scan the historic buildings of Fishtown, an active commercial fishing port in Leland, Michigan on the shore of Lake Michigan.  Fishtown is also a popular summer destination for vacationers to the area. 

The 2008 project was to scan the Fishtown buildings and generate a topographic survey of the site and wire-frame drawings of the buildings for the architectural team.  The image below shows the wire-frame drawings on top of the point cloud.  The Fishtown Preservation Society and the architects used the drawings to establish building locations and dimensions.

In February 2010, the Fishtown Preservation Society was awarded funding through the National Trust for Historic Preservation from the Jeffris Heartland Fund to finance a Historic Structure Report for the Fishtown buildings and related structures along the Leland River.  As part of the project, Midwestern Consulting was again hired to generate new drawings of each building including additional dimensions, detailed elevations, geometric locations, and other fine details.  The drawing below shows the north elevation of the Manitou Outfitters building in significant detail.

These tasks were easily accomplished since we already had the data.
Without the initial scan data, we would have had to travel to the site again and do more measurements.  That means more time and money spent on the project.  With the data in hand, Midwestern was able to give the historic preservation team additional accurate details of Fishtown at a fraction of the cost needed to get the new measurements.

Now you can get more detailed information – for less!

Midwestern Consulting now offers scalable .tif images (called orthophotos) behind 2D drawings of building elevations and other structures.  We do less drawing and you get more images that are comparable to a digital photo but are scalable and can be loaded into your design software model in the exact location. You will no longer have to spend time rotating, scaling or twisting an image to set it in the right place!

 The two images below illustrate this feature.  The first image shows a drawing of the north elevation of Cook Hall at the University of Michigan.  The second image shows the same elevation but with a picture of the point cloud behind it.  Click on the images below to enlarge.�

The image with the picture of the point cloud behind it delivers a great deal more detail.  You can see the brick detail and artwork of the structures themselves.  We didn’t do anymore drawing but you get lots more information about this building. 

 By including orthophotos in our deliverable, less time would be required by us and the project architect.  The architect can include these background images in their final drawings as well.

Increase the quality and completeness of your deliverable, while Saving time and money. Get more for less with Midwestern’s  scalable point cloud images.

When a wall, by design, is built vertically plumb that’s great. When it’s out of plumb or warped, that could pose a problem, sometimes a costly one. Midwestern Consulting uses 3D laser scanning to help our clients determine the exact geometric shape of walls.

Engineers and architects on a project at Oakland Community College in Farmington Hills, Michigan were investigating two 40 foot by 120 foot exterior walls to a building constructed in the late 1960’s. All parties knew the walls had issues. Cracks were appearing on the exterior brick facade, as well as the interior side of the outside walls.

Point Cloud

Varying schools of thought existed as to what was causing the cracks, one thought was that the walls were actually de-laminating and the exterior brick façade was falling away from the interior brick façade. What was known and agreed upon was the existence of a few ‘bubbles’ on the walls, but the severity of them was not known. The structural engineer and architect decided to turn to us to see if our 3D laser scanning could lead them to truly see and understand the wall’s entire geometry.

The 3D laser scanning data proved that the walls were, in fact, bubbling in several areas (see Area “B” and “C” as examples on the image below). The color images within these drawings were created directly from our scan, and color maps were applied appropriately to reveal the deviations of the wall from the plumb line. Spot elevations were set on the wall to compliment the color’s meaning.

Oakland Community College Library - West Wall

To our client’s surprise, our scan revealed a “cavity,” or inverted bubble along the top edge of the walls that was not known previously (see Area “A” on the image). Based upon all these findings, our client was able to move forward on the project with confidence. Overall, the walls are considered to be in fairly good condition; nonetheless, some additional bracing is necessary to prevent any further movements. In the end, our client found our data to be very ‘rational and informative’ and found this to be an excellent use of 3D laser scanning.

A recent project at the University of Michigan “Survival Flight” helicopter Helipad shows how using the laser scanner saved our client time and money.

Midwestern Consulting was hired by a contractor to provide surveying services at the site. Our task was to locate the existing paint markings for the helicopter landing location and a University of Michigan “M” logo.

Survival Flight

The existing paint was to be removed from the pad and then reapplied. We choose to use a total station and our HDS6000 laser scanner to do the survey. We initially thought it would be faster to process the data from the traditional total station method – until our client changed his mind and asked for some additional data.

After delivering the final drawing to our client, a decision was made to move the position of the “M” and align it to the edge of the nearest retaining wall – and to do so without painting the “M” too close to some nearby underground electric access covers.

Helipad

Had we not scanned the pad, a second site visit to gather additional data would have been necessary. But since the entire Helipad area was captured with our scanner during the first site visit, gathering the additional data from our scanner files was fast and easy.

Our final drawing accurately placed the new markings in the location the client wanted. We solved our client’s problem quickly and without additional costs.