CAMBRIDGE NEWS | 1
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 13, 2019
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Your Local Independent Paper
SEPTEMBER 13, 2019
Preserving history By Sophie Iremonger
One of Cambridge’s most historic buildings has been immortalised in cyber space thanks to a scanning project which has created a virtual reality tour of the St Andrews Church. Cambridge resident Clint Lawson had often driven past and admired the towering Anglican structure, built of heart kauri by W G Connolly in 1881. “So to actually be able to come and scan it is quite a privilege,” he said. “I’ve always had an affinity for older buildings, and this is a building I’ve always wanted to scan, so I was quite pleased when (Reverend) Malcolm (French) said ‘We’d love for you to do it’.” “It’s an absolutely beautiful building. And it’s important work, because it’s preserving our history for future generations. Just look at Notre-Dame, imagine if they’d done a virtual tour of it.” Lawson – who usually scans businesses, buildings, tourist attractions and real estate properties as part of his business, Visualize Tourism – is also scanning historic buildings at no charge for the greater good of historic record. “We want to do other historic buildings in Cambridge, as many as we can – the older the better,” he said. St Andrews Church it the oldest building Lawson has worked on so far, having scanned around 150 properties across the country over the past year. The scans are turned into a virtual reality tour where users – on a computer, iPad or smartphone – can explore the entire building and find information points about the building itself and its various features. The St Andrews scan features several points of information, including the stories behind the various stain glass windows.
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Clint Lawson (left), a man on a mission to turn historic buildings into virtual reality, has scanned and created an online walk-through of St Andrews Church, with the help of church vicar Reverend Malcolm French (right) feeding information into the online tour.
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