It’s that Re/Cappin’ day Re/Cappers! And we’re getting a bit au naturel this week, as you’ll see in a lead Re/Cap that spins a tale of nature through BIM and birds.
To celebrate spring and the Singaporean avian achievement you’ll soon read about, we thought we’d look back on some glorious reality capture case studies & discussions, all framed around nature.
What’s Cappenin’ This Week: A £37.6m digital twin center, The BIM Bird Paradise, a 3D App plays 4D chess with AR, a hefty CHIPS Act grant, and a present day AEC Error of the Week that leans on San Francisco, California. Literally.
Last week on single-photon LiDAR, Hexagon & Microsoft manufacturing new manufacturing, a future of videogrammetry, digital twin-infused metrology, and a catastrophic AEC Error of the Week that highlights reality capture’s importance in fire prevention & management.
If you thought Guinness was stout, wait’ll you see the UK’s defense, maritime, and aerospace sectors in a few years.
The government will be putting forth £37.6m toward the center, initially emphasizing use cases in the aforementioned domains. Fiercely committed to accelerating adoption, it has launched with co-investment by Thales UK, Spirit AeroSystems and Artemis Technologies. Full details below.
Bird Paradise is the latest addition to the Mandai Wildlife Reserve, which includes River Wonders, Night Safari, and the Singapore Zoo. Its end? Sustainability. Its means? Technology.
The build was a delicate process, obsessing over preserving natural topography however and wherever possible. But Obayashi Singapore Pte Ltd saw to its roaring success, employing laser scanners, drones, BIM, digital twins, and a flock of other technologies to make Bird Paradise…one of innovation as well. Full story below.
All in on digital, all in on nature
AEC & survey pros, prepare to be augmented.
Mapping maestros Pix4D infused their mobile scanning app’s newest update with augmented reality to enrich real-time project site interaction. Get the full scoop below on plan overlays & all-stage approval expediency, video demo footage, and additional RTK device details.
Twinners, dust off those grant writing chops, and you could have $285 million with your name on it if you’re in the semiconductor space.
Through its $280 billion CHIPS and Science Act, the U.S. government is accepting applications from companies willing to “establish and operate a CHIPS Manufacturing USA institute focused on digital twins for the semiconductor industry.” Read the Notice of Funding Opportunity here, and the broader context below.
San Francisco’s Millennium Tower was completed in 2009, yet has endured more chapters of drama than every single Desperate Housewives season combined.
Most famously, it’s got a substantial lean, as it has since its first would-be residents took their initial tour – “Honey, why are we wobbly?”
Fanning the flames was San Francisco issuing a violation notice, on account of gaps discovered in walls that could exacerbate fire risks.
Now look, before we champion reality capture and digital twins, it’s only fair to concede that the area’s soil has been a thorn in the side/bottom of the building. It is pure truth that one cannot predict how certain soil will react to an absolute motherload of weight.
But there is a way to prepare for the unpredictable! It’s called technology.
Reality capture and digital twins would have ensured thorough monitoring of vertical settlement and tilt, while verifying construction accuracy. It could have comprehensively analyzed soil conditions and foundation performance, yielding early detection of issues, improved quality control, and proactive risk management. Integration of such data with BIM software would have allowed for virtual simulations and analyses, helping identify and mitigate potential risks before they escalated, ultimately ensuring structural integrity and almost one billion dollars much better spent. Said another way, these technologies would have made wise decisions easier, bad decisions more visible, and mistakes more easily caught. The mantra of reality capture.
If you really want the nitty gritty engineering goods, watch Practical Engineering’s exhaustive analysis.
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