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Image courtesy of Falconviz<\/em><\/p><\/div> Juxtaposed with developments of gleaming new towers and modern urban infrastructure, Jeddah\u2019s ancient port centre of Al-Balad is a UNESCO Cultural Heritage Site that has largely stood the test of time. Although many of Al-Balad\u2019s historical buildings have been lost to dilapidation and fires, in the last 50 years its UNESCO status has provided the impetus to preserve this important remnant of Hijazi architecture. Making these efforts count is Falconviz, a Saudi-based 3D surveying and mapping firm, using state-of-the-art drone technology and Autodesk software to document and register these historical buildings for future generations.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong> Founded in 7th<\/sup>century C.E., the ancient town of Al-Balad served as the center of commerce and trade for the city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. After more than 19 centuries, the ancient walls that surrounded this historic town, and the souk within, were torn down. As oil wealth flowed into Saudi Arabia and country marched to gleaming new infrastructure and buildings, many moved out of the cramped spaces of Al-Balad, leaving its more palatial homes and buildings to slow dilapidation. What remains are exemplary vestiges of ancient building styles seldom seen elsewhere in Saudi Arabia. Image courtesy of Falconviz<\/em><\/p><\/div> Al-Balad embodies traditional architecture specific to only this region, with its unique use of cut coral stones and intricately hand-carved Rawashin protruding latticed windows. It is one of the few places left where such architectural styles can be seen first-hand, and are of intangible cultural and historical importance. Khaled Abd El-Gawad, Director of Business Development and Acting Operations Manager at Falconviz explains that archeologically and architecturally, Al-Balad has a unique value proposition: \u201cIt is a cultural symbol that can serve both as a tourist attraction, and an invaluable memory of an era of Saudi Arabia before oil.\u201d However, preserving ancient buildings in this historic quarter comes with its own challenges, particularly with new, more modern and contemporary developments becoming the top choice for current residents. <\/p>\n One of the biggest challenges in Al-Balad is the tight proximity of buildings to each other. \u201cUsing traditional methods to record and preserve ancient buildings would take a long time, require several teams of people, and would also not be precise or accurate, particularly in the case of unique details,\u201d explains El-Gawad, \u201cunfortunately, it has been the norm for most projects in Saudi Arabia until maybe 20-30 years ago.\u201d With the advent of laser scanning technology and photogrammetry, the procedure has become exponentially more efficient. Together with drones \u2013 an area of particular expertise for Falconviz \u2013 previously inaccessible areas of Al-Balad can be documented for more accurate preservation. Image courtesy of Falconviz<\/em><\/p><\/div> <\/p>\n Each drone sweep in an extensive aerial and terrestrial 3D scan of Al-Balad produces dozens of images of a building, and hundreds of these images create a complex point cloud of data. Every point provides accurate coordinates and true colour markers for all facets of the buildings, from its complex Hijazi fa\u00e7ades to its structural nodes. Unlike the common method of point cloud meshing \u2013 which can be inaccurate, overloads rendering and creates unnecessarily large files \u2013 Falconviz directly imports the point cloud into AutoCAD, enabling for a detailed 3D model that preserves even the minutest structural details. Image courtesy of Falconviz<\/em><\/p><\/div> \u201cAutodesk tools like ReCap, Revit and 3ds Max provide us with accurate drawings of sections, elevations, and structures of buildings,\u201d explains El-Gawad. When combined with Building Information Modeling (BIM) tools and processes, he adds, it gives them unique and previously unavailable capabilities. \u201cWe can use these models to run various stress tests and simulations, like fire safety. We can plan for emergency response teams, evacuation routes, and many other scenarios due to the high accuracy of the models.\u201d The team at Falconviz can make use of the highly accurate point cloud to take measurements and accurately extract a CAD solid model of the building. Since all measurements are accurate to 1cm, final as-built plans can be generated for any of the modelled buildings from the original Structure from Motion (SfM) scan. Image courtesy of Falconviz<\/em><\/p><\/div> <\/p>\n “Thanks to drone technology and the capabilities of Autodesk software, we can now do in a day what it would take a number of teams at least a month to complete. This has a positive domino effect on costs, manpower and efficiency. It also gives the Saudi authorities in charge of restoring and maintaining the Al-Balad area a comprehensive model to refer to when necessary. For example, there was a fire that destroyed few very old buildings some months ago. Without the accurate models we helped construct, these buildings would be lost forever. Now, they can still be restored,” adds El-Gawad. This video from Falconviz illustrates the scanning process: ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/adsknews.autodesk.com\/app\/uploads\/2018\/10\/al-balad-aerial-photo-low-res-1024x683.jpg\")
Tackling ancient buildings from new angles<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Breathing new life into the old <\/strong><\/h2>\n
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