A 3D scanner turns the castle into a hotel

The almost 100-year-old Mariagaarde water castle in Hoepertingen (Borgloon) is currently being converted into a beautiful four-star hotel with 25 rooms, a brasserie and a lounge bar. Another 25 rooms will be added in the next phase. Alken architectural firm Élan has already created a very detailed image of what the final restoration will look like using a 3D scanner.

Élan Architecten from Alken was faced with an extraordinary challenge by investors Lennard and Ruben Van Vloten: to reuse Hoepertingen Castle and turn it into a luxury hotel. To do this, they relied on unusual technology. While measuring equipment such as laser meters or even tape or fold meters are typically used to measure buildings, Ilan used a 3D scanner. “The size and detail of the castle requires a higher degree of accuracy,” says director Laurence Besmans. “With the precision of 3D scanning, we can map large-scale renovation projects on a large scale and in great detail.”

Every room in the castle was checked three times often. “This resulted in a cloud of reference points. We then read this data into our drawing software, so we reconstructed the castle into a 3D drawing. This 3D model allows us to create all the necessary plans and sketch out our designs.” A good example of progress.