Chatham Bars Inn

LOCATION: CHATHAM, MA 

CLIENT: CHATHAM BARS INN

Chatham Bars Inn, an iconic oceanfront resort on Cape Cod established in 1914, is recognized as one of New England’s premier summer destinations. To maintain its distinguished status, the resort's ownership initiated a comprehensive, phased renovation estimated at $100 million.​

THE CHALLENGE

At the project's outset, the design team required a detailed structural understanding of the expansive 37-building resort. While a site survey provided a general overview, comprehensive building documentation was lacking, making it challenging to ascertain the existing conditions accurately.​

PROLOGUE SOLUTION

Prologue Systems was engaged to provide precise as-built documentation using advanced laser scanning technology. The team faced several challenges, including conducting scans during January amidst blizzard conditions.​

To efficiently manage the scanning of the diverse buildings, Prologue established a central operations hub in a vacant cottage provided by the resort's management. Collaborating with three laser scanning subcontractors, the team executed a meticulously planned workflow, primarily conducting scans at night over nearly two weeks.​

Utilizing the FARO® platform, Prologue emphasized delivering comprehensive solutions rather than just point cloud files. Recognizing that clients might find raw data overwhelming, the team developed detailed 3D models from the point clouds, offering a true dimensional representation of the structures. These models were enhanced with colorized scans and supplemented by aerial photography, providing a thorough macro and micro understanding of the entire site, both internally and externally.​

Technical Details

• Total Scans Collected: 1,551

• Equipment Used: FARO Focus3D X 330 Laser Scanners

• Software: FARO SCENE for registration; Autodesk® ReCap™ and FARO VirtuSurv for data processing

• Deliverables: 37 individual Revit® models and one topographic surface model, all linked into a unified Revit topography for cohesive coordination

  Outcome

  The comprehensive documentation provided by Prologue enabled the design and construction teams to proceed with confidence, ensuring that renovations were based on accurate and detailed information. The resort's management expressed satisfaction with the results, noting the efficiency and precision of Prologue's work.​

  Conclusion

  Prologue Systems' expertise in 3D laser scanning and modeling played a crucial role in the successful renovation of Chatham Bars Inn. By delivering accurate, detailed, and user-friendly models, Prologue facilitated informed decision-making and streamlined the renovation process for this historic resort.

NARRATIVE

Prologue Systems offers laser scanning and 3D modeling services. Scanning the Chatham Bars Inn represented a series of challenges, not the least of them being the time of year (January) and weather (blizzard). “Chatham Bars Inn is  quite a place. But January is not peak season for a reason,” says Prologue founder and project manager Scott Reed. “We pulled in at 2:00 a.m. It was dumping snow. Snow introduces a lot of complications when you’re trying to laser scan an entire site.” To facilitate the scanning of 37 disparate buildings, the Prologue team set up shop in a vacant cottage made available by Inn management. This ‘war room’ was the central clearinghouse for the assembly of scans from Prologue and three laser scanning subcontractors.* The workflow was meticulously orchestrated, with most of the scanning taking place at night over nearly two weeks. “We’re all in with the FARO® platform,” Reed explains. “We pride ourselves on providing solutions, not point cloud files. Laser scanning as-built conditions may be cool-sounding to clients, but they can get intimidated by the massive amount of data. So we actually build 3D models from the point cloud. We saw this as something the design team could leverage later, having a true 3D dimensionality of the structures.” What’s more, the Prologue team overlaid colorized scans over the models to improve visualization and supplemented that with aerial photography. All stakeholders received a comprehensive macro/micro understanding of the entire site, inside and out.

Prologue collected 1,551 scans. Every room of every building was captured—from bathrooms, closets, and parlors to kitchens, common spaces, and ballrooms. All data was collected from FARO Focus3D X 330 Laser Scanners. FARO SCENE, a software platform, performed all registration. Registration was targeted, but occasionally the team had to use cloud to cloud. With FARO SCENE, exterior scans were coordinated to a common survey control file. Individual building scans were then coordinated together as one master point cloud for the entire property. Autodesk® ReCap™ files and FARO VirtuSurv were generated for each building. Using the data, 37 Revit® models and one topographic surface were built. All models were linked into one Revit topo surface but delivered to the design team as individual projects. This allowed for manageable project file sizes, but preserved complete coordination between projects.