Correlation of Laser-Scan Surveys of Irish Classical Architecture with Historic Documentation from Architectural Pattern Books

Automated systems using terrestrial laser scanning and digital photogrammetry for recording of historic structures produce accurate 3D surface modelling of historic structures or artefacts, but do not supply detail behind the surface of the scan. Correlation of laser-scan and image survey data with historic documentation will augment the surface detail of the laser scan survey. Architectural pattern books published during the 1700s were one of the main inspirational sources for the design of vernacular eighteenth-century classical buildings. The main aim of this chapter is to describe the process of correlation of laser-scan and image survey data with historic detail from architectural pattern books, and secondly the resultant analysis of the systems of geometrical proportioning used in the design and building of eighteenth-century vernacular classical buildings in Ireland.