{"id":4961,"date":"2019-05-30T09:00:04","date_gmt":"2019-05-30T13:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/?p=4961"},"modified":"2020-09-03T05:52:52","modified_gmt":"2020-09-03T09:52:52","slug":"using-lasers-to-capture-the-tiniest-details-of-a-workspace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/workspace-solutions\/flexible-products\/using-lasers-to-capture-the-tiniest-details-of-a-workspace","title":{"rendered":"Using lasers to capture the tiniest details of a workspace"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/a>After WeWork acquired the Lord & Taylor building in Midtown Manhattan in 2017, one of the first things we needed was a detailed plan of each floor. There were blueprints, of course, but countless changes since the iconic structure was built in 1914 made them inaccurate. Walls had been demolished, windows had been bricked over, and support columns were either in the wrong place or had never existed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So we called in our reality-capture experts. The 20-member team uses a wide range of equipment\u2014including state-of-the-art laser scanners\u2014to produce remarkably detailed plans of raw spaces that WeWork\u2019s designers transform into beautiful workspaces. The team is used to challenges, but Lord & Taylor was by far the biggest it\u2019s encountered<\/a>. The average WeWork location takes 20 to 30 scans to create a detailed rendering, according to Thad Wester, director of reality capture. By contrast, the 676,000-square-foot retail space took more than 4,000 scans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting access to many parts of the building\u2014such as the elevator shafts\u2014required ingenuity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe wanted to know every single crevice in the building,\u201d says Wester. \u201cSo with our $100,000 laser scanner, we rode on top of the elevators so we could scan the inside of the shafts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2018, Wester\u2019s team worked on 650 projects, delivering 800 billion individual measurements. That makes WeWork one of the world\u2019s largest users of laser-scan-point technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur team just bought its 13th laser scanner,\u201d says Wester. \u201cAnd what\u2019s most amazing is that we use all of them basically every day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The precision of laser scanning speeds up the process of opening new WeWork locations because it eliminates human error, like faulty measurements or missing doorways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor reality capture, the big difference is that WeWork has committed to laser scanning every project,\u201d says Wester. \u201cIt\u2019s not a niche offering, but just part of our process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Measuring down to the millimeter<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Wearing a sweatshirt and knit cap to ward off the chill of an empty building in Manhattan\u2019s Meatpacking District, Austin Jennee is taking shots with a laser scanner mounted atop a 4-foot-tall tripod. These scans are so detailed that you can spot wires dangling from the ceiling or a penny dropped on the floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like many people in this field, Jennee started working in reality capture fairly recently. While employed at a construction company in 2017, he noticed a team using a laser scanner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI knew that was something I wanted to do,\u201d says Jennee, the only member of WeWork\u2019s reality-capture team based in New York. \u201cWithin three weeks, I was a reality-capture specialist.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since joining WeWork in May, he\u2019s scanned dozens of buildings. Recent projects took him to Nashville, Kansas City, and Chicago, where he tackled a 300,000-square-foot bank. Capturing the intricate details of the historic structure took him three days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The man who built WeWork\u2019s reality-capture team from the ground up was Wester, who earned a master\u2019s degree in geography from East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. \u201cWe had a bunch of laser scanners there,\u201d says Wester, \u201cand I fell in love the first time I saw them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After college he started his own laser-scanning company, working on high-profile projects like Forest Hills Stadium (the original home of tennis\u2019 U.S. Open) in Queens and the Monte Carlo Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. He also consulted for the building-technology company Case, later acquired by WeWork.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When WeWork asked Wester to join the team in 2015, it didn\u2019t take him long to say yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI had really liked owning my own business,\u201d says Wester. \u201cBut at WeWork I was given the freedom to set my own goals and build out my team the way I needed to. You don\u2019t find that everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wester and four others are based in Florence, South Carolina. That city of fewer than 40,000 people is a surprisingly good location for a reality-capture team: Four members of his team are graduates from nearby Florence-Darlington Technical College.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI always thought I\u2019d be an architect,\u201d says Ivy Wilson, one of those graduates. \u201cSo instead of designing buildings, I get to make models of what they look like.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wilson, who stitches together scans taken by other members of the team, had barely heard of laser-scanning technology when Wester reached out to her. \u201cIt seemed so innovative, something not everyone was doing,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s an amazing thing to be a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wester\u2019s team now includes members in Brazil, China, Mexico, Singapore, and the UK. One of his most recent hires is Shrinivas G, based in Singapore. Before joining WeWork six months ago, he spent nine years doing laser scanning at shipbuilding companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s exactly the same technology,\u201d he says, \u201cbut at that company, we ended up with drawings of ships.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today his projects include a nine-story building in Seoul and a space above a shopping mall in Bangkok. Besides Korea and Thailand, he\u2019s recently traveled to the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s definitely a learning curve here,\u201d he says. \u201cYou learn to quickly finish one job so you can move on to the next. There\u2019s always something new on the horizon. That\u2019s what makes this job so exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WeWork offers companies of all sizes space solutions that help solve their biggest business challenges.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n