The Past is Present: Workshop
Point Cloud Surveying and Virtual Reality
April 6, 2018
9AM — 5PM | 230 Blum Hall, UC Berkeley
Led by:
Ilmar Hurkxkens, ETH Zurich
PhD Researcher
Mohammad Keshavarzi, UC Berkeley
MS/PhD Student
The winner of an international competition held in 1966, Woo Hon Fai Hall was designed by San Francisco architect Mario Ciampi with associates Richard L. Jorasch and Ronald E. Wagner, and opened in 1970. On its opening, San Francisco Chronicle critic Alfred Frankenstein praised it as the “Bay Region’s first thoroughly modern museum structure . . . a major work of art in itself.” The subject of a temporary, mostly external seismic reinforcement in 2001, the building now sits vacant, with an investment of $28-32M necessary to allow seismic and mechanical upgrading for continued university use. While the recipient of landmark status from the City of Berkeley in 2012, the building remains at risk of demolition in favor or competing campus architectural priorities.
During this workshop, participants will learn advanced point cloud surveying techniques with a terrestrial laser scanner (FARO Focus 350) that will acquire a 3D point cloud model of the historic BAMPFA building. Using open source software packages, participants will register and segment raw 3D point cloud data before importing this data into Unity 3D to create a virtual reality experience. Conversations will focus on the limitations and the potential of implementing AR/VR environments into scholarly research with current hardware.
Sponsored by the Archaeological Research Facility (ARF), with support from FARO.
Interested in attending? Space is limited. Email lara [at] berkeley.edu. Preference will be given to BCNM students.
The Past is Present
The Past is Present: Virtuality, Archaeology, and the Future of History is an interdisciplinary event bringing together scholars, students, technology innovators, and cultural heritage workers in conversation about new methods and tools which are shaping their work.
Over the course of three days (April 4-6), the Berkeley Center for New Media will provide a venue for an international group to explore critical issues of new technologies. On April 4th, we will begin the program with an opening reception for a VR exhibition around art, archaeology, and architecture. The symposium on April 5th will feature scholarly presentations on topics such as Documenting Archaeology and Architecture; Accessing history through Drawings, Plans, Casts, and Copies; and Academic, Public, and Pedagogical Priorities for the 21st Century. Participants will also grapple with these issues through hands-on demos and workshops alongside professionals in the tech industry on the last day of the event.
Click here for more information on the exhibition and symposium.
Presented in partnership with swissnex San Francisco, with support from Arts + Design, LAEP, the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, CITRIS and the Banatao Institute, Research, Teaching and Learning (RTL), the Archaeological Research Facility (ARF), and Digital Humanities at Berkeley.