JDA Co. and Conrad Gargett have united their collective expertise to assist in restoring a Brisbane heritage home, utilising 3D laser technology to capture the dwelling’s every surface.
The technology is able to survey every millimetre of the building, identifying where critical restoration works were required.. It eliminates the need for manual measurements, saving 12 months from the design process.
The final model captured is dubbed a point cloud, which JDA’s James Davidson says was critical to the success of the dwelling’s restoration.
“Using the laser scanner, we have been able to capture every single detail of the building,” he says.
“We now have a record of how each brick sat, how thick the mortar was between the bricks and the layers of exposed paint on the walls – every intricate detail down to the millimetre. This is invaluable data to the custodians of heritage buildings.”
JDA Co. has worked closely with Conrad Gargett’s Specialist Heritage Architect David Gole throughout the process. Davidson says acknowledging the past was a crucial step for the restoration process, made easier via the technology.
“Without this tool, we would not be able to restore Home to its exact originality and with the respect it deserves,” he says.
“It means we have been able to replicate the work of lost trades and techniques, such as precisely recreating the ornate cast iron fretwork and missing stained-glass windows just as they were.”
Designed by renowned architect Alexander Brown Wilson in 1902-03, Lamb House is regarded as one of the architect’s most prominent works. Its original owner was John Lamb, a successful co-proprietor of Queen St drapery establishment, Edwards & Lamb.
Wilsons Architects is still operational today, headed by Managing Director Hamilton Wilson, the fourth generation descendent of Lamb House’s original architect A.B Wilson.
“The meticulous detail invested into the home by my great grandfather A. B Wilson could only ever be documented using 3D laser scanning — both as a tool for critical restoration, and as a record of a moment before change,” Wilson says.
The Lamb family remained the owners of the home until 2021, purchased by prominent racing and corporate identities Steve and Jane Wilson. The couple were committed to saving it from the rapid decay that had set in. The house had remained vacated for over a decade.
“Brisbane is indeed fortunate for Steve and Jane Wilson to take on such an important project of bringing new life to this extraordinary and significant part of our collective history,” Wilson continues.
“Just before the work began, my family was invited to witness the house, which was damaged by rain and vandalism, but through these detrimental layers one could still see the brilliant way light was captured and how the interior connected to the vast verandas.”
Lamb House has been aptly renamed Home by the Wilson Couple. The scans completed by the 3D technology will be shared as a ‘digital timestamp’ and historic record with the Queensland Government’s Department of Environmental Sciences’ heritage unit, once the restoration is complete.
