{"id":5271,"date":"2017-03-02T14:20:06","date_gmt":"2017-03-02T19:20:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=5271"},"modified":"2025-10-17T17:48:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T21:48:06","slug":"virtual-senate-tour","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/virtual-senate-tour\/","title":{"rendered":"Carleton Builds Virtual Senate Tour"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Carleton Builds Virtual Senate Tour\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

Fifty years ago, when Canada celebrated its centennial, eight-year-old Stephen Fai watched the ceremonies in the national capital on television from small-town Saskatchewan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The copper-roofed Gothic Revival buildings<\/a> on Parliament Hill \u2014 and the idea that such a place existed in his country \u2014 seemed magical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Participating in projects that help showcase and rehabilitate the historic buildings of
Parliament Hill is a dream come true for CIMS director Stephen Fai.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Now an architecture professor<\/a> and director of the Carleton Immersive Media Studio (CIMS<\/a>), Fai and his students are using cutting-edge digital technologies to help the federal government document, rehabilitate and showcase these historic buildings through a series of collaborative projects that add another layer to Canada\u2019s 150th<\/sup> birthday<\/a> festivities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDoing this is literally a dream come true,\u201d says Fai.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cWe\u2019re putting together material that people will be looking at from across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

A virtual tour<\/a> of the Senate foyer, antechamber and chamber \u2014 the first public component of the CIMS work \u2014 was launched at an event for politicians and the press in the Sir John A. Macdonald Building on Wellington Street on March 1.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Virtual Senate Tour Open to All<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When major renovations<\/a> begin at Centre Block next year and senators move into a temporary home in Ottawa\u2019s former downtown train station, anybody with Internet access will be able to experience their iconic Red Chamber thanks to the CIMS virtual Senate tour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visitors can enter the virtual building and watch 360-degree 3D animations that bring to life the chamber\u2019s artwork and architectural flourishes, from paintings, sculptures and the speaker\u2019s chair to the four demonic \u201cgrotesques\u201d perched over the main door. They can click on hotspots to read or listen to stories about the provenance of these features. And they can view a building information model that reveals that physical substructure above the ceiling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Guests at a March 1 launch for the Senate\u2019s new website test drive the virtual tour built by Carleton\u2019s CIMS lab.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCanada\u2019s 150th anniversary is not just a time to reflect on the past \u2014 it is a chance to look to the future,\u201d says Senator Leo Housakos<\/a>, chair of the upper house\u2019s Committee on Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration and chair of the Sub-Committee on Communications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Senate\u2019s virtual tour combines both by using technology to open up our institution to the public. Now all Canadians can thoroughly explore the Senate, delve into its history and appreciate the vital work the institution has been doing since Confederation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a monumental achievement and we\u2019re so happy to have worked with Carleton University to make it happen,\u201d adds Senator Jane Cordy<\/a>, deputy chair of both committees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of technical know-how behind this project, and Carleton students and their faculty supervisors had to put in considerable sweat equity as well. A lot of hard work, long hours and persistence went into developing this tour and we are grateful for their dedication.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The virtual Senate tour, which the CIMS team created using 360-degree photographs, laser scans and photogrammetry of the exterior and interior of the building painstakingly captured during repeated visits over several months, offers a snapshot of the Carleton studio\u2019s capabilities. And it hints at what else will be unveiled over the months and years ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cThis is a very new area of research for us,\u201d says Fai.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cAs a result, we\u2019re expanding the number of directions our lab is exploring. Two years ago, it was mostly architecture and heritage conservation. Now it\u2019s also sustainable design, interactive animation, coding, digital fabrication for reconstruction projects, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBeing in the Senate chamber at 7 a.m. on a Sunday, when the only other person there was a security guard, that was quite an honour. It was gratifying for the students and me. But we haven\u2019t had too much time to reflect on it \u2014 we\u2019re too busy thinking about what\u2019s next.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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A Buzz of Activity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Visitors to the 800-square-metre CIMS research centre, a collection of open rooms and workshops that occupy the fourth floor of the Visualization and Simulation Building in the southwest corner of campus, will be struck by the buzz of activity. The walls are adorned with maps, diagrams and blueprints; the desks are covered with cameras, microphones and large monitors; and a couple dozen students are either focused on their screens or talking to each other about the myriad tasks at hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Professor Fai introduces the virtual Senate tour at an event for politicians and the press in the
Sir John A. Macdonald Building on Wellington Street on March 1. (Photo: Jesse Plunkett)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The lab, established in 2002, is \u201cdedicated to the advanced study of innovative, hybrid forms of representation and fabrication that can both reveal the invisible measures of architecture and animate the visible world of construction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the umbrella of the Faculty of Engineering and Design\u2019s<\/a> Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism, one of its goals is the \u201cadvancement and development of the tools, processes and techniques involved in the transformation of data into tangible and meaningful artifacts that impact the way we see, think and work in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early projects<\/a> at CIMS, funded by organizations such as Mitacs, included a digital model of Batawa, Ont.<\/a> (a small town created by the Bata Shoe Company) as part of an imaginative community retrofit plan, and a resource management tool<\/a> for the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation<\/a> north of Ottawa. There were also biomedical models of mouse brains (supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research), and university buildings, to help managers visualize measures such as heat loss and electricity use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Professor Fai introduces the virtual Senate tour at an event for politicians and the press in the
Sir John A. Macdonald Building on Wellington Street on March 1. (Photo: Jesse Plunkett)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This research revolved around what was then an emerging technology called building information modelling (BIM) \u2014 a conflation of architectural geometry and a database or databases. Gathering the metric information for BIM relied on a pair of techniques: laser scanning, which captures digital information about the shape of an object, building or landscape by using laser beams to measure the distance between the scanner and the target; and photogrammetry, which is defined as the science of using photographs (especially aerial images) to make precise measurements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As equipment became more affordable and easier to use, CIMS began to develop increasingly complex and interactive models. \u201cA motto we played with,\u201d recalls Fai, who became the director of CIMS in 2007, “is `too much is never enough.\u2019 How much information can you include and still have a workable model?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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Documenting the West Block<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

About six years ago, CIMS started to work with the federal Heritage Conservation Services agency on a study comparing the use of laser scanning and photogrammetry to fully document the West Block before its massive rehabilitation project<\/a>, which began in 2011 and is scheduled to finish this year. (It\u2019s the most complex rehab project ever undertaken on Parliament Hill.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CIMS created a BIM of West Block<\/a>\u2019s exterior and interior \u2014 a tool that can be used both as a record of the building\u2019s original structure and features, and as a guide for future maintenance and management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Recognizing the value of these models, Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) expanded the partnership with Carleton to include BIMs of Centre Block and East Block, which are also undergoing major renovations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The BIMs can be used by architects working on these projects. At the same time, the data and images behind them can also form the basis of immersive digital experiences like the virtual Senate tour and other collaborations underway with PSPC, such as an exhibit opening soon at the tourism information centre across the road from Parliament at 90 Wellington Street that\u2019s part of PSPC\u2019s sesquicentennial celebrations, with physical and digital elements as well as a \u201cVR Bar\u201d offering five different 360-degree experiences to visitors.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cA collaboration with CIMS allows the Parliamentary Precinct Branch to showcase its innovative approaches and use of state-of-the art tools and visuals to communicate PSPC\u2019s role in building Canada for over 150 years,\u201d says PSPC.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cThe partnership has been very successful. Not only does it allow university students the opportunity to work on Canada\u2019s most iconic buildings that are the seat of power and democracy, it also has the added benefit of building capacity in a technology industry for Canadians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Centre Block, East Block and West Block projects\u2026 offer unique opportunities for young Canadians to contribute to these historic projects, and to build a solid knowledge base in Canada for heritage rehabilitation work, not only for trades such as stone masons, electricians, plumbers, carpenters, but also for students in the field of architecture and associated technologies such as BIM and 3D imaging. This partnership furthers Canada as one of the leading countries involved in modelling historic structures and utilizing knowledge gained to increase construction efficiencies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fai breaks down CIMS\u2019 digital workflow into five areas of research – digitization (laser scanning and photogrammetry), building information modelling, building performance simulation (energy usage maps), digitally assisted fabrication (which relies on a pair of robots \u2014 one large enough to cut stone \u2014 housed in the Azrieli School<\/a>), and digitally assisted storytelling (web- and mobile-based narratives, virtual reality).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThrough these five processes, we can transform metric data into information that is operational for the architecture, engineering and construction industry, educational for the general public, and beautiful to look at or to hold,\u201d says Fai. \u201cWe can take photographs of an object and use those photographs to create a physical replica of the object that was photographed. It\u2019s an alchemical process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Evolution of CIMS<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Katie Graham has played a role in the evolution of CIMS since 2007, when about five students worked in the space \u2014 a fraction of the more than 30 who are in the lab these days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now in the third year of her PhD studies in architecture and team lead for the virtual Senate tour, Graham arrived in the lab as an undergraduate and remained involved through her master\u2019s degree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Students Abhijit Dhanda and Katie Graham have worked closely with Fai in the Carleton Immersive Media Studio (CIMS).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNobody has done the kind of work we\u2019re doing in this way,\u201d she says about the virtual Senate tour. \u201cIt\u2019s been an incredible learning experience. As a team, we discuss everything and then go off and experiment.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cOther projects don\u2019t have deadlines that are this intense \u2014 everything has to be presented in a certain way by a specific date.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Scheduling access to the Senate when the house was not in session \u2014 and when there was enough light to capture images and no Christmas decorations visible \u2014 was a challenge for Graham, as was navigating the difference between mobile and web platforms for the finished products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the effort was worth it, and she\u2019s excited about the prospect of her team\u2019s work being exposed to an audience of millions in Canada and around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA lot of what we do is not for wide dissemination,\u201d adds fellow student Abhijit Dhanda, who graduated from Carleton\u2019s Architectural Conservation and Sustainability Engineering<\/a> program last year and is working as a research associate at CIMS while waiting to hear about acceptance into the university\u2019s Master of Civil Engineering program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo much of our work is very technical,\u201d says Dhanda, whose responsibilities include visualizations and animations for the Parliament Hill projects. \u201cWe\u2019re playing with different programs and are starting to understand how much we can do with the data. It\u2019s very powerful and can be a tool for rehabilitation and public engagement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBuilding information models show layers and layers of info,\u201d says Graham.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cNow we can use the same tools to produce layers and layers of stories. It\u2019s not just about making the data, but presenting it. This is a big, exciting shift.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cWe make sure students at CIMS have a chance to do everything they want to try,\u201d says Fai. \u201cLearning this range of skills is a great educational opportunity. We get them hooked \u2014 hooked on learning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And on the magic of adding their touch to the national story.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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