When every millimeter counts: 3D laser scanning at the Sihlcity technology center

Technical rooms are the invisible behind the visible. In the Sihlcity area, one of the largest urban entertainment centers in Switzerland with around 100,000 m² of usable space, a grown technical center supplies over 20,000 visitors with energy, heat and operational safety every day.

The challenge: no room for error
Industrial technology rooms like these grow over decades. Lines are added, machines replaced, systems expanded - rarely documented, hardly coordinated. The result: a three-dimensional labyrinth of pipes, valves, cables and machines that is at best incompletely mapped on plans. For a planned conversion, this means that without precise as-built data, any planning is a blind flight. Collisions are only discovered on the construction site, and cost increases of 15-30% are not uncommon in such situations.

Scan-to-BIM during operation
VDE recorded the entire technical center using 3D laser scanning - contactless and during operation. Modern laser scanners capture up to 2 million measuring points per second and deliver a point cloud of the actual condition with millimeter precision. This data was used to create a complete 3D model in ArchiCAD at VDE premium level: architecture, technical building services, machines and installations - everything recorded, everything modeled. The planning team also received a 360° photo viewer for a visual inspection of the entire facility.

Added value: collision check before the first cut
The result was a seamless digital basis: every line, every machine, every bottleneck documented. Collisions were identified and resolved early on in the model - not on the construction site. Studies show that BIM-based planning in plant construction can reduce supplementary costs by up to 40%. In the Sihlcity case, the planning team was able to plan safely and in a coordinated manner before the first screw was turned.

Conclusion
Industrial technology is complex - the planning basis doesn't have to be. Precise 3D as-built data is not a luxury, but the basis for safe, cost-efficient conversions.

"Do you have a complex industrial plant or technical center that needs to be measured? We will be happy to advise you without obligation."