Baptistery di San Giovanni: Florence, Italy

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The Baptistery of San Giovanni is one of Florence's architectural gems, a cornerstone of Florentine cultural heritage, and a favorite among tourists. This 3D printable mesh model of the ancient monument was built from a point cloud collected during laser scanning of the site as part of a diagnostic survey we conducted for our graduate school research. The model includes both exterior and interior architectural features and can be sliced open to reveal the chapel space and iconic dome within. It took many days of persistent work to distill the 1.5 billion points at millimeter accuracy down to a 3D printable model that still captured the details of the monument, but we finally managed to finish it (just in time!). We initially created the model to help develop a conservation plan for the site by examining the history of the site's architectural progression and analyzing components contributing to structural degradation. Beyond that, we believe scientific data like this model should be shared with everyone and not just kept hidden away for our academic pursuits. Further information about our diagnostic cultural heritage engineering work in Florence and other sites and our efforts to create innovative, open-access art and technology based on our research is posted on our site Open Access Antiquarianism. (http://openaccessantiquarianism.com/). You might want to especially check out this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPjh4482K7Y) from the Center of Interdisciplinary Science for Art, Architecture, and Archaeology (CISA3) detailing results from two field seasons at the site.