World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893: 3D Reconstruction of The Kentucky State Building

This project is one accomplished during a “Virtual Environments and 3D Modeling” class taught by Professor Lisa M. Snyder that I took as an elective course for the Digital Humanities graduate certificate. The point was to provide both a first-hand experience with the reconstruction process and an understanding of the basics of 3D modeling.

Each student was assigned one of the state buildings from the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893. We had to gather research materials about the assigned building and then construct a computer model of it using the free version of Sketch Up. I was charged with the Kentucky State Building. We were each given the footprint of our building and had to collect any other available materials (images, architectural plans, written descriptions of the building) upon which to base the reconstructions. All of the artifacts I received about the building can be viewed below the model. Click on the model to interact with it.

As we constructed the models, we had to reflect on our decision-making process: what kinds of decision we made to complete the assignment, what assumptions and compromises we had to make, how to handle areas of the model where evidence is lacking, what evidence was most useful, and how the modeling software helped or hindered the process.

Sketch Up

2014