“Welcome to Explore Soane. The historic house, museum, and library of 19th-century architect Sir John Soane—now made digital. Get closer than ever before to its fascinating objects and see its eclectic rooms in a new light.” These words welcome viewers as they enter the new digital model of the Sir John Soane’s Museum, recently launched by ScanLAB Projects.
Sir John Soane was a noted 19th-century British architect who passed away in 1837, leaving behind not simply a home, but a museum of architectural curiosities for posterity. Established by Private Act of Parliament in 1833, the house-museum has been kept just as Soane left it at the time of his death, continuing to offer free access to visitors as he had intended. Safeguarded by its Trustees, the museum hosts exhibitions, events, and a research library.
The Sepulchral Chamber. (Via explore.soane.org)
The museum’s digital model offers visitors the choice to begin their journey in the Model Room or the Sepulchral Chamber. The Model Room includes models of historical architectural sites such as Temple of Vesta (made from cork), Temple of Vesta (made from plaster) and a Model of Pompeii, showing the city in 1820. The replica of the room features individual, digitized models available for download. The interactive elements of the room also include fact sheets for models in Soane’s collection, which can be found upon clicking on each model.
As viewers move on to The Sepulchral Chamber, they can find interactive models of an ancient Egyptian Sarcophagus King Seti I and Sarcophagus Detail. This portion of the journey also provides fact sheets and an about page for items in the chamber.
ScanLab Projects is a creative studio that works to combine 3-D technologies and large scale scanning with the architectural and creative industries, creating digital replicas of buildings, landscapes, objects, and events. They offer 3-D printing, 3-D scanning, and visualization services to digitize the world in captivating ways. ScanLAB Projects also plans to add more rooms and works of art to the model.
