This was years of making architectural details for new construction and restoration projects, before concentrating on reproducing architectural salvage.
Copyright 1997 - 2025
This was years of making architectural details for new construction and restoration projects, before concentrating on reproducing architectural salvage.
While getting a degree in software development I learned about creating software for Palm handhelds. The major app--that took a year to complete--was a set of electronic maps and a viewer. Later, I built a Windows-based map editor.
The project's focus was to encourage users to get out and start exploring–after all, they had these scrollable, searchable maps right in their pockets.
My first software job was creating virtual environments for Exposure Therapy. My first major project was creating a 9/11 simulation for PTSD research. I had to study how the World Trade Center towers were put together so I could rebuild them and, later, bring them down again. I got good practice in creating a building from photos, as floorplans and blueprints were not available.
Later, I started my first virtual reconstruction project–Auschwitz Birkenau. I had visited the year before, and the idea was to make exploring easier; it had taken me three flights and a train ride to get there–and it had snowed the day before I visited. It would also allow the visitor to see the site as it is today and as it was when the construction was complete.
Then I found an architectural competition for a real-time walkthrough of historic buildings. I chose La Tourette monastery and, like before, reconstructed it from photos. It included both the interior and exterior, sound effects, music, and a mini game to encourage exploration.
Stereo cards were another way for people to visualize the world in a different way; I remembered View-Master reels, and collected a few vintage stereoscope cards for inspiration.
It wasn't difficult to start producing modern stereo cards, even with a single camera, and the easiest way to get them printed was to make them postcard sized. I took photos all around Atlanta, including Oakland cemetery and Arabia Mountain, and collected them into site-specific sets.
My reconstructions became renders. The buildings could be taken apart to show their construction, or shown with different lighting, or rendered as animations to show the entire building.
I'm still reconstructing new buildings and figuring out new ways to illustrate them; it's easier than sketching and there's so many different render styles.
In Atlanta, I'd been doing bespoke walking tours for friends: Oakland cemetery, Westview cemetery, Downtown, the Gulch, and movie locations. I started exploring Cave Hill cemetery the second day I was in Louisville and began working up a tour two months later.
However, I never found much interest in doing personal tours, so why not let people do them on their own? I cobbled together some html, javascript and css to create a Baedecker-inspired, single-page, read-on-your-phone, guided tour.
I've created 11 of these so far. My favorite bits are figuring out the routes, picking the POIs, and pulling the GPS coordinates.
Videos are a good way for people to see places they might never visit, so I gave it a try. I had years of reference photos and had created some processes during the stereo card days that turned photos into something resembling a graphic novel or painting style. I tried them on some photos of a building I found in Dayton, OH and they looked good. So, I plonked them into Blender's video sequencer, added some public domain music, and figured out how to create a video.
What wakes me up in the morning is exploring, finding the good bits, and then figuring out ways to help people see them. It looks like no one medium works for everything, and I'm still hoping to find one–or a technique that uses all of them. Why? Because the world is a visually interesting place and I'd like to have people notice more of it.
Over the years I've explored 38 historic downtowns in seven states and 53 historic cemeteries in five states. There are more architectural details Instagram and Flickr: