This building was designed by Sachio Otani and completed in 1966. The Kyoto Protocol emissions treaty of 1997 was signed in this building (COP3).

Otani worked in the office of Kenzo Tange until 1960, when he left to establish his own office. While at Tange’s firm he worked on the Hiroshima Peace Centre (1955) and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Offices (1957).

It’s a rare remaining example of the Metabolism architecture movement in Japan, especially after the Nakagin Capsule Tower in Ginza, Tokyo was demolished in 2022.

It is set in beautiful parkland, with very restrictive access to the site – the reception kindly let me take a few shots in the entrance foyer, but most of the grounds were off limits. It is served by a nearby metro station and underground bicycle parking with an inclined electric bicycle travelator.

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The above poster is an orthographic (ie. no perspective) render of a 3D model of the underground train station.

I created a 3D model by walking around the station holding an iPhone 14 Pro running the 3D Scanner App, combining the segments in the 3d modelling software Blender and rendering it out as an image.

Aren’t the escalator and staircase crossovers a beautiful symmetrical pattern? I had no idea that’s how they were arranged. I think it’s a wonderful way to visualise architecture.

If you would like to download and print your own A3 poster, here are some high resolution copies. All are licensed CC BY-NC 4.0.

• 9921 × 7016, 600dpi JPEG, ~32MB: files.jakecoppinger.com/town-hall-station-poster/town-hall-station-poster-jake-coppinger.jpg
• PDF optimised for computers (RGB, interactive, ~4MB): files.jakecoppinger.com/town-hall-station-poster/town-hall-station-poster-jake-coppinger.pdf
• PDF optimised for printing (CMYK, marks & bleeds, ~50MB): files.jakecoppinger.com/town-hall-station-poster/town-hall-station-poster-jake-coppinger-print.pdf

Enjoy!

Read on if you’d like to learn more about how to create a model of your own local train station or a multi-story building.

Table of contents

Behind the scenes

Overview of method

• install the 3D Scanner App on an iPhone that supports LiDAR (iPhone Pro 12 or later, 2020+ iPad Pro)
• slowly walk around with the app to generate a 3D LiDAR model
• importing the 3D models into Blender
• align the models
• cleaning up any “noise” and chopping off half of some objects
• render the model to an image
• create a nice poster in Adobe InDesign!

Detailed method

Setting up your iPhone

These instructions are similar to those for my blog post on Generating aerial imagery with your iPhone’s LiDAR sensor.

I recommend using the app titled 3d Scanner App as it allows considerable customisation of the scan settings, though other scanning apps like Polycam would also work. It allows finishing a scan and extending later, though this can be buggy. I haven’t had a crash during capture – I’ve had Polycam crash halfway through a large scan losing all data.

Download 3d Scanner App and use the LiDAR Advanced mode. I recommend the using the following options for scanning streets:

• Confidence to low if you need the maximum 5 metre range for the sensor, otherwise set it to medium for a less noisy model
• Range to 5.0 metres
• Masking to None
• Resolution to 50mm (the lowest – for large models like buildings or streets)

In the app settings, make sure to set:

• Units to metric
• GPS can be turned on but likely won’t help you underground!

Capturing the model

Note that any commercial photography in a train station will require paperwork and special permission. Amateur/hobbyist/student use of a hand-held mobile device appears to be permitted in Sydney train stations, just treat it like taking a photo/video for Instagram or Tiktok – don’t photograph people and keep an eye on your surroundings.

The safety precautions are common sense, but have a read. Be careful not to cross over the yellow line when scanning. People will introduce artefacts into the model, so go in off peak or on a weekend to minimise crowds. The resolution and accuracy of the LiDAR scanning is not high enough to present any security concerns (any more than an Instagram photo).

When scanning, walk slowly with a sweeping motion to increase the maximum scanned width. If the area is wide enough to require a grid pattern, follow the same shape as a drone survey (an S-shape with considerable overlap). Not enough overlap or higher speeds mean the linear passes don’t connect correctly due to (I assume) inertial measurement unit drift.

Aligning and cleaning the models

You will likely need to do multiple takes of your desired building, and then combine them together.

Share your models from 3D scanner app as OBJ via Airdrop (or your preferred method), decompress the ZIP file and then import the OBJ into Blender (File -> Import -> Wavefront (.obj)).

Some basic Blender skills come in handy here – it’s not an easy program to use, and I am no expert. If you haven’t used it before I recommend following a beginner blog post or video tutorial. A few specific tips:

• Make liberal use of the numpad preset views: 1 for front on, 3 for side view, 7 for top, and 5 for toggling perspective
  • If you don’t have a numpad you will need to enable numpad emulation, see instructions at https://www.hack-computer.com/post/how-to-emulate-a-third-mouse-button-and-keypad-for-blender
• To remove noise or parts you don’t want, select the object, change into edit mode (tab key), and then change the Viewport Shading to Wireframe (with the globe button in the top right). Dragging with the left mouse button will select areas, or click c to drag a circle to select vertices (with +/- keys enlarging the circle).
  • Changing the shading to Wireframe means that you can select vertices “hiding” behind others that may not be directly visible
• I couldn’t figure out how to disable perspective and get the framing I wanted in a proper render, so I did a Viewport render with the background set to white, Material Preview as the Viewport Shading mode and Toggle X-Ray to remove the grid
  • The background still wasn’t perfectly white even though I set it to be, I had to use levels in Photoshop to get the background #FFFFFF. This may just be an error on my part!

Possible future improvements

• Capturing pointclouds instead of meshes, aligning them in Cloudcompare (I believe there are tools for aligning pointclouds), then either rendering straight to an image or generating a mesh and rendering only faces/normals facing the camera
• Reducing drift in capturing models. This would be algorithm heavy; maybe utilising survey markers or just known positions in a station, using Record3D, exporting sequences of .obj models (1 per frame), then constructing offline.
• A cross section from the north or south would be interesting! (this view is from the west looking east)
• Is it possible to create an accurate model with less takes? This would require less stitching in Blender
• Are there ways to create a full 3D model, then just not render faces/normals that aren’t facing the camera?
  • Better yet, not rendering faces/normals that are less than x degrees incident to the camera to reduce noise for flat surfaces
• How to handle glass surfaces better (LiDAR isn’t great with glass out of the box)
• 3D printing models

Please let me know if you use this as inspiration for modelling stations elsewhere!

Related/further reading

• Catharia O, Richard F, Vignoles H, Véron P, Aoussat A, Segonds F. Smartphone LiDAR Data: A Case Study for Numerisation of Indoor Buildings in Railway Stations. Sensors (Basel). 2023;23(4):1967. Published 2023 Feb 9. doi:10.3390/s23041967: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/368448078_Smartphone_LiDAR_Data_A_Case_Study_for_Numerisation_of_Indoor_Buildings_in_Railway_Stations

• Great tips for better 3D scans: https://docs.3dscannerapp.com/

• 3D maps (orthographic projection) of every London Underground station

• https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/maps_of_public_corridors_on_larg
• https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/3d-maps-of-every-underground-station-ab-14630/

The post Subterranean Sydney: A cross-section of Town Hall Station made with iPhone LiDAR first appeared on Jake Coppinger.

It’s always wonderful when others want to come and watch the camera LCD to get a better view!

Shot on a Canon 5D IV, Sigma 100-600mm zoom.

The post Lunar Eclipse above the Opera house first appeared on Jake Coppinger.

• Intro
• Construction
• Opening day, 15/10/2022

Intro

On Saturday the 15th of October, Clover Moore (Lord Mayor of the City of Sydney) opened The Drying Green, the new centerpiece park of Green Square. It’s been in construction since March 2018 and includes areas of grass, wetlands which filter stormwater before it enters the wider system, and a barbecue and seating area. It also includes Stream, a solar powered artwork highlighting the sites connection to water.

The park sits between the Green Square Town Centre, a public plaza that contains the Green Square Library, and a vacant site which will contain a public school in time. To the north of the site are under construction apartments, with completed apartments to the south.

I captured drone imagery (following CASA rules) when construction was almost completed so that I could survey the site and add the new features and bicycle facilities to OpenStreetMap, which powers the maps on Facebook, Instagram, Strava, Maps.me, Wikipedia and on the City of Sydney website itself.

It forms one of the pieces of a “spine” of public spaces from the Green Square station to the north-east, the library and public plaza, this park, the under construction primary school directly to the east, Gunyama Park Aquatic and Recreation Centre and the Joynton Avenue Creative Centre to the south-east.

The Drying Green on OpenStreetMap. I added the details from orthoimagery I derived from the drone imagery, which I uploaded to OpenAerialMap under CC BY-NC 4.0: https://map.openaerialmap.org/#/151.20587468147278,-33.90851167467649,18/square/311230133020033/62e7e606d849980005379761?_k=aonikx. I followed all CASA laws for sub 250gm drones in the process.

The grass slope to the top left (north-west) is considerably elevated, and gives the space a feeling of enclosure and provides a soft edge for the public space.

Construction

I’ve captured street imagery for a number of years to contribute to Mapillary and other datasets. These platforms assists myself and other volunteer surveyors improve OpenStreetMap which powers a number of cycling and pedestrian focused maps. On a number of occasions I’ve caught glimpses of the new park in construction.

Street level imagery captured by author, May 19, 2019. Image license CC BY-SA.

(If the Mapillary embeds aren’t working you will likely need to enable cookies or exit private mode unfortunately. Alternatively, explore the imagery at Mapillary.

Corner of Portman Street and present day Zetland Avenue (Zetland Avenue didn’t exist at that time). Street level imagery I collected, LG 360, Jun 4, 2020. Image license CC BY-SA.

Corner of Zetland Avenue and Geddes Avenue. Street level imagery I collected, LG 360, Jun 4, 2020. Image license CC BY-SA.

Corner of Geddes Avenue and Paul Street, Sep 4, 2019. Image license CC BY-SA.

Before (left) image captured by Mapillary user “bikesydney”, captured Sep 5, 2015 (please say hello if this is you). After image captured by me, 16th October 2022. Image license CC BY-SA.

The cycling infrastructure is hugely improved, but it’s hard not to feel a sense of loss for the dense trees.

Opening day, 15/10/2022

The crowd was possibly the largest group of people I’ve seen in Green Square, which is usually a very quiet area. A number of apartment buildings are still in construction nearby, increasing the number of people who will enjoy the park in future.

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The post The Drying Green opening – a new Green Square park first appeared on Jake Coppinger.

The first piece of rail infrastructure in the Eastern Suburbs since the 1979 Bondi Junction line, the CBD & South East Light Rail received funding in 2012 and started construction in 2014, with the line opening on 14/12/19 (to Randwick).

I undertook a four-year project to document the construction over 6 focus trips at various stages of development, as well as after the opening of the Randwick segment.

The UNSW/Kingsford segment is due to open in March 2020.

The route is about is good at it can get for a transit corridor with bidirectional peak flows of students to UNSW, office workers to the city, and health professionals to the hospital.

That being said I do think it should have been heavy rail. It’s slow, like slowest in the world, 50 minutes Randwick to Circular Quay , 11.16km/h average, slow. Off peak buses run that in 35 min! Chances are they’re running to a “fat” timetable with long station dwell times to judge passenger behaviour, and should be able to get to 40mins end to end, but it’s always going to be slow. The line will be over crush capacity in the near future, with little ability to increase throughput. Trams already run attached together in 67m long monsters to reduce traffic light cycles required.

Was it worth building? While unbearably slow, the stations are literally level with street footpath, making it ridiculously accessible, and it seems to be well used already. I would have rathered a pedestrianised George St, with rapid bus corridor all along Anzac Parade, and built the rumored Maroubra Metro sooner.

Historical context

In the 1950’s Sydney had the largest tram network in the Southern Hemisphere. With the postwar shift in transit planning to the US mindset of prioritising private cars, the state government closed all lines, removed overhead wires overnight, tarred over tracks and burned the trams in Randwick (at the depot north of the racecourse) to ensure they could not run again.

The 1979 Bondi Junction train line was originally planned to continue to Charing Cross, Frenchmans Road, Randwick Junction, University of NSW and Kingsford, however was shortened in 1967 for budget reasons.

Leaked government documents suggest a 2036 Metro line to Randwick, Maroubra Junction & Malabar, which would probably open up the gun range near the national park to development and serve the huge new developments in Maroubra Junction.

Moore Park Tunnel

It would be an amazing cycle route into the city, however the government decided against a foot/cycle path citing safety concerns of it being long and without sightlines around the corner.

Note: It’d be a really bad idea going in the tunnel now. When I shot these there was no rail traffic, the tunnel was fully illuminated and I noted the overhead wires were grounded.

The entire tunnel was built cut and cover. Anzac Parade (and the bike path) was duplicated with a slight curve while the tunnel was dug under the original road, and then traffic was switched back. Note: This isn’t the diverted Anzac Parade, it’s the busway.

Albert Tibby Cotter Bridge

Eastern Tunnel Entrance

Moore Park ripped oven for cut and cover construction. Most of the tunnel had been built at this point, this is the access segment.

Moore Park Cut & Cover

Moore Park Tunnel Eastern Portal

George Street

Probably the best thing to come out of the project in my opinion is the pedestrianisation of George Street. It feels a lot more lively. There are people eating on the street, buskers playing without road noise, children playing. There was a lot of opposition at the start due to changing bus routes, and the huge amount of disruption to local businesses. I think the result is similar to Martin Place; it’s unimaginable to go back now.

George St & Market St

Surry Hills

Devonshire St and Crown St

Devonshire St & Bourke St

Circular Quay

The CQ junction is beautiful and functional. Interchange between light rail, heavy rail, bus and ferry is possible with a short walk at street level. The large public square (closed to cars) means crowding isn’t usually an issue.

It’s really slow (at least for now) on the George Street section, but this shot highlights just how accessible (for those in wheelchairs, the elderly and the lazy) the trams are from the street footway.

Other Infrastructure

From what I could guess after watching closely, the accelerator/throttle chooses a speed and then software chooses the acceleration curve to apply.

17/12/19

Similar to the door cameras used in Sydney Trains

At Town Hall station you’ll see the trams dropping their pantographs as they transition to battery/switched third rail

Shot 15/12/19 at 17mm, thanks Dean for letting me borrow your lens!

My most trusted designer friend reckons these copper roofed stations will date really quick!

Shot 3/11/19 from Harry Seidler’s Grosvenor Place during Sydney Open.

Originally the Randwick terminus would be in High Cross Park, however after a campaign to save the park TfNSW and Randwick Council moved the terminus to High Street just past the Prince of Wales Hospital.

A hidden electricity substation was still built in the park with a concrete surface covering it

Shot 17/12/19. Prior to the opening, Transport for NSW’s coordinator general Marg Prendergast was concerned about pedestrian behaviour around the trams leading to near misses. This intersection east of Central Station is possibly the busiest pedestrian intersection in Sydney. The addition of a cycle path and extremely narrow island between the road and the light rail crossings, along with the lights not being coordinated between those crossings, leads to large crows with nowhere to go when the trams are coming. In my perfect world the street would be closed to cars, but it’s a pretty major bus thoroughfare due to the large railyards blocking access further south.

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