Correspondence: Richard Laing, The Scott Sutherland School, The Robert Gordon University, Garthdee Road, Aberdeen AB10 7QE, UK. E-mail: r.laing@rgu.ac.uk

¹has been an active member of the Scottish Vernacular Buildings Working Group and has undertaken extensive work recording and detailing doocots and other vernacular buildings in Scotland. In 2000, Nick completed a PhD through the Robert Gordon University concerning the doocots of Moray, and their evolutionary development. He runs an architectural and planning practice, and continues to undertake work concerning the recording, analysis and promotion of studies in the field of vernacular architectural history. Together with the Robert Gordon University, it is intended that the work reported in this paper be extended to encompass doocots from throughout Aberdeenshire.

²is a Professor at The Robert Gordon University where since 1999 he has led a number of research commissions, including 'Streetscapes' (Scottish Enterprise), 'Greenspace' (ECFP5, Scottish lead) and 'Urban Connections' (Aberdeen City Growth). He has extensive experience of research concerning holistic value assessment in the built environment, including studies on design evaluation, the use of computer games technology in design, building conservation and innovative housing. His research concerning design evaluation has made a significant and innovative use of 3D virtual models to present various designs and environmental scenarios. The research has produced over 50 outputs, including work in international journals and at conference.

³joined The Robert Gordon University (RGU) in 1992 completing an HND and first-class honours degree in Architectural Technology. Except for a short stint in industry, Jonathan has worked in research and teaching for RGU on a variety of projects in the areas of environmental design, energy monitoring, life cycle analysis, social and occupancy evaluation, CAD, surveying technologies and historic conservation. He completed a PhD in 2004 on 'Optimising the Relationship between Passive Solar Design of New Housing and the Economics of Construction and Land Value' and he has since been employed as a Research Fellow and Lecturer at RGU.

Received 19 January 2009; Revised 19 January 2009.

Abstract

This paper reports on the outcomes from a feasibility study exploring the potential for using a high-definition 3D scanner to improve the efficiency of architectural recording and design in existing environments. The study used examples from the existing built heritage (in this case, historic local doocots) to explore how the technology and associated software can be used to gather information about the surface and appearance of structures, and how this can then be utilised to rapidly develop both a record of the existing situation, while providing a permanent and accurate (to 2 mm) 3D model to be used for reference purposes in design and analysis. Doocots have been selected for a number of key reasons, including the importance of material and detail to their heritage value, and the fact that they are sufficiently small and contained structures to support a full scale recording of manageable size within this study. It is also true that they each represent historic buildings at risk, and that the task undertaken here will be of genuine wider value within conservation studies.