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Jovan MARINKOVI, Petar PEJI, Sonja KRASI

OLD FACADE PRESENTATION ON REAL BUILDINGS USING AUGMENTED REALITY

Abstract: There are many reasons for construction work on the facade of an object over time. Such work
can positively or negatively affect the architectural value of a building. In Serbia there are numerous
examples of negative changes of facade geometry in the period following the Second World War. Facade
decoration of many important buildings from the period of classicism, secession and early modernism was
completely removed, so that today's appearance can be hardly connected to the original. In this paper, the
process of digital reconstruction and presentation of the former building facade on the corner of Dusanova
street and Prijezdina street in Nis, Serbia, is presented. Method of semiautomatic photogrammetry is used
for 3D model creation of the former facade geometry and presented in real locations using augmented
reality technology.

Key words: Old faade, Photogrammetry, Augmented reality, 3D model, Architecture.

1. INTRODUCTION emerging computer technology where the perception of


the user is enhanced by the seamless blending between a
During the construction of the building, special realistic environment and computer-generated virtual
attention is focused on the functional and aesthetic values objects coexisting in the same space [5]. Therefore
of the building facade. The facades of the building reflect augmented reality can be used in architectural
the times in which they were created, especially if it is a presentations [6], [7], [8], [9], [10].
monumental public building. There is a need for building
facade reconstruction over time. The need for
reconstruction is required due to continuous exposure to
natural influences or sudden unexpected damage. After
reconstruction, the faade can keep the old look or get a
new one. Creation of the new faade design can be
justified by alignment in the existing urban environment.
But in the case of historically important building faade
restoration, practice is to preserve the original look, since
the original appearance presents the architectural and city
style of that time. Otherwise, unplanned and
irresponsible policy of building reconstruction can lead
to the loss of city identity.
In Serbia there are numerous examples of negative
changes of facade geometry in the period following the
Second World War. Facade decoration of many
important buildings from the period of classicism,
secession and early modernism was completely removed,
so that today's appearance bears little resemblance to the
original.
The former building look is preserved in the form of
Fig. 1 Present look of the building on the corner of Dusanova
an architectural project in the city archives and in old street and Prijezdina street in Nis
photographs. These sources provide data for virtual
reconstruction and creation of a three-dimensional digital In this paper, the process of digital reconstruction and
model of building. To present the old facade of the presentation of the no longer existent building facade on
building, photographs represent a very valuable resource the corner of Dusanova street and Prijezdina street in
for creating 3D models using photogrammetry [1], [2], Nis, Serbia, is presented (Figure 1). Using the available
[3]. Photogrammetry is a method in which data of a photographs of original building facades (Figure 2) and
three-dimensional spatial structure is obtained, using the semiautomatic photogrammetry method, a 3D model
two-dimensional photograph data [4] for 3D model of a no longer existent facade geometry is created. This
creation. virtual 3D model is used for real location presentation
The aim of this paper is the presentation of a no using augmented reality technology.
longer existent facade of a building that physically still
exists but has a different facade look. Augmented reality
is used for a no longer existent building facade 3D model
presentation in real environment. Augmented reality is an
JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN AND ENGINEERING GRAPHICS 29
Old facade presentation on real building using augmented reality

Fig. 2 Past look of the building on the corner Dusanova street


and Prijezdina street in Nis
Fig. 4 Final 3D model of the building
2. 3D MODEL CREATION
The outer length of the wall of the building is used
as a reference distance and scaling of the model was
done using Tape Measure Tool, one of the SketchUp
tools in 1:1 rate. The final, photorealistic, three-
dimensional, digital model of the building is obtained
using the semi-automatic photogrammetry procedure
(Figure 4).

3. AUGMENTED REALITY PRESENTATION

The final result of the whole process is a photo


realistic three-dimensional solid model. Since the model
was created for AR presentation, it is necessary to
geolocate it. Considering the advantage of SketchUps
direct connection with the Google map service, the map
of the corner of Dusanova street and Prijezdina street in
Nis was imported and the 3D model was inserted.
Building augmented reality presentation was created
Fig. 3 Semiautomatic photogrammetry process, using using the free version of the AR-media Plugin for
SketchUp SketchUp. Using GPS, a description, a name and an
option to be viewed were added to the previously created
Three-dimensional model of the building on the and geolocated 3D model. Such a model was then ready
corner of Dusanova street and Prijezdina street in Nis to be exported into the *.AR-media file and thus was
was created by the semiautomatic photogrammetry possible to be seen in augmented reality, using the free
method, using free SketchUp software. The photo of the AR-media Player in Windows, Mac, Android or iOS
object at an angle (Figure 3) was imported, and infinity, operational systems.
coordinates and their starting point were adjusted. Then,
using the photo and basic SketchUp tools for modeling,
all surfaces of the object were drawn in detail. After
space sizes drawing of the object, photo textures were
projected onto the surfaces of the model which made the
object look realistic.

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Old facade presentation on real building using augmented reality
3. CONCLUSION

This paper presents a contemporary approach to the


process of old facade presentation on real buildings using
augmented reality. The entire process of semi-automatic
photogrammetry 3D model creation and augmented
reality presentation was conducted using free software
packages. Preview of created content is possible on all
smart mobile devices, which are widely used and
available to most people. This way, all users (residents of
the city and tourists) are able to overview the former
appearance of buildings. Users can learn about history
and architectonic value of the city by virtual faade time
travel.
Such an approach for presentation of no longer
existent building facades enables intuitive real-time
preview in an intuitive way. The main problem is the
lack of a photorealistic model because the application
works in real time and needs to process large amounts of
data in a fraction of a second. Another major problem is
the occlusion, thanks to which the dynamic objects (cars,
people) that are located in the space between the virtual
object and the viewer do not display correctly, since they
are covered by the 3D model. Further development of
hardware and software will overcome these problems and
develop a much more realistic augmented reality system
for the presentation of architectural objects.

Fig. 5 Augmented reality presentation testing on real location


REFERENCES
Testing of the prepared augmented reality
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