780 BLANSHARD PROJECT
BUILDING
Building emerged from my first residency following the completion of my master’s degree in visual arts. Prompted by the looming redevelopment of 780 Blanshard St. in Victoria, BC, I set out to reconstruct the building, inside and out, through photogrammetry. In August 2025, I captured 54,000 photographs of its exterior, hallways, and rooms. Using software that compares features across multiple images to generate three-dimensional approximations, I assembled a digital model of the entire structure. By removing low-detail areas such as blank walls, the building took on a corroded, skeletal form. The resulting virtual space reveals the hidden spatial relationships normally obscured by architecture. This unexpected way of seeing a familiar space became the focus of the work.
Throughout the summer of 2026, I'll be contacting studio artists to arrange scanning sessions, with the goal of accounting for every room in the building. Depending on the size and complexity of the room, I'll take between 600 and 1000 photographs. This takes about 30 minutes. These images are then organized by room and run through photogrammetry software. Once processed, the model is brought into 3D editing software and positioned within the larger structure of the building, scaled and aligned as precisely as possible. Light fixtures and window spill are then recreated to produce dynamic lighting that responds to the virtual environment.
The project has no predetermined outcome. So far it has taken the form of video works and a video installation, with an interactive experience (potentially in VR) currently in development.
The photogrammetry process also generates a 2D texture that wraps around the 3D model to give it colour and detail. This texture is essentially an incomprehensible collage of every visible surface in the room. I've produced prints from these textures in previous projects, and there is potential to re-photograph the building's interior from within the 3D software for further uncanny results.
Studio tenants are welcome to the resulting material from their studio scan, including the raw photographs and processed 3D models for their own use.
Please feel free to contact me with any questions about scheduling or process. email
crop of texture file from Dale Roberts' studio