Architectural endoscopy

Architectural endoscopy or architectural envisioning is used to photograph and film models of new buildings' exterior and interior in the planning stage. An architectural model of a new building in a 1:500 scale is thus correctly visualized from the perspective of a pedestrian walking by in the street. An endoscope connected to a video camera allows for the creation of walkthroughs, allowing the architect to develop the first draft further, and the public to share and critique the architect's vision of proposed buildings and cities.

In architecture the rigid endoscope is called a Relatoskop (German), relatoscop (French), borescope, etc. In this article, 'endoscope' is used as a generic term.

The endoscope was invented in 1806 by Philipp Bozzini, in medicine it was used to look inside the human body. In 1954, the Paris-based German architect, Martin Schulz van Treeck (van Treeck), was the first to use endoscopes for visualisation of architectural models. The endoscopes were his father's, Alfred Schulz van Treeck, physician and pioneer in otoscopy.

He published the first article in the architecture journal Bauen + Wohnen in 1957, titled "Real model photograph as a new representation method in architecture planning" (Reale Modellphotographie als neue Darstellungsmethode in der Architekturplanung).

In architectural design competitions, it is common that a 1:500 scale model of the building is shown in addition to the plans during the presentation. These models are usually seen and photographed from a bird's-eye view. Van Treeck was aware of the problem to mediate architectural design to builders and investors, when seen from the traditional bird's-eye perspective. His idea was to use the endoscope photos as base for drawings of the model and present these to clients or the public, to show what the building would look like if they were walking or driving in the street next to it. He could place the endoscope in a pedestrian's position in the model. Architectural models in 1:500 or 1:100 scale were represented in photos, and later in videos, the way a pedestrian would see the finished building.

The endoscope became known among architects and builders through its use by van Treeck in the planning of the Orgues de Flandre residential buildings on Avenue de Flandre, 19th arrondissement in Paris. The four central residential towers of the settlement have different heights and are designed in the shape of organ pipes. They are called Prelude, Fugue, Cantata and 4, which explains the name Orgues de Flandre ("Church organs of Flanders"). Van Treeck used an endoscope for photography and especially video films, on models in a 1:500 to 1:100 scale in the architectural competition and further planning of the Orgues de Flandre buildings. He documented his work using an endoscope from the beginning.

...
Wikipedia