Built Environment Reverse and Forward Prototyping

Advanced digital mapping tools and technologies are enablers for effective e-planning in the built and human environment. The regeneration and transformation of cities from the industrial age to the knowledge age is essentially a ‘whole life cycle’ process consisting of; planning, development, operation, reuse and renewal. The use of the 3D laser scanner enables digital documentation of buildings, sites and physical objects for reconstruction and restoration. Using the 3D scanner in combination with the 3D printer provides the transformation of digital data from the captured CAD model back to a physical model at an appropriate scale – reverse prototyping. Furthermore, it can possible to make the building information ready in a database for building lifecycle by means data conversion with pattern matching approach from the laser scanned data. The use of these technologies is a key enabler to the creation of new approaches to the ‘Whole Life Cycle’ process within the built and human environment for the 21st century.