Historic House 3D Scans

While much of our recent work at Onion Flats Architecture has focused on digging into older buildings through #DeepEnergyRetrofits, it’s rare that we get the opportunity to explore a colonial-era building in this much depth.

Using 3D scanning technology, we’ve been documenting and analyzing a house near Washington Square in Philadelphia, a historic neighborhood with a remarkably continuous architectural lineage. This (continuously occupied) house was originally built as an income-producing rental property in the early 1800s and has undergone centuries of alterations and maintenance - talk about embodied energy!

In addition to some really helpful imagery and the ability to quickly arrive at dimensional accuracy, these reality capture tools often reveal hidden relationships between structure, materials, and past interventions; insights that directly inform preservation strategies, deep retrofits, and long-term stewardship.

As we approach the 250th anniversary of the United States, this work feels especially timely. Our built environment is one of the most tangible records of that history. By pairing modern digital tools with careful architectural inquiry, we can better understand how early buildings were made, how they’ve endured, and how they can continue to serve future generations with greater efficiency and resilience.

#HistoricPreservation #3DScanning #DeepEnergyRetrofits #AdaptiveReuse