Carleton Martello Tower
Located in Saint John, NB, the Carleton Martello Tower is a National Historic Site curated by Parks Canada. The old fort was built in 1813 for the defense of Saint John in the War of 1812 and has since undergone five major roof reconstructions in its 200-year lifespan. Each roof marks an important stage in the tower’s history; the snow roof in 1822 protected the tower from damage, the 1866 roof had sliding doors for guns when the tower was first armed during the Fenian Crisis, the 1890 roof included an observation turret for the tower’s use as a museum after being named a historical site, the 1938 roof restored the tower to its original state, and the 1940 roof currently on the tower added the Fire Command Post for harbour defense during WWII.
Historical image of Martello Tower's roof, 1866. (Parks Canada)
As part of the New Paradigms/New Tools grant funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the CIMS lab and Parks Canada partnered to model the tower from point cloud data and create a digital tourist experience. This will help visitors experience the interior of the tower as it undergoes its current renovation to replace the Fire Command Post with lighter materials and fix the exterior walls. The digital experience will also make the tower more accessible by allowing people to view a 360 video from home and allowing people with disabilities to see the tower interior in a 360 view from the on-site visitor’s center.
Exterior of Carleton Martello Tower in point cloud. (Point cloud courtesy of Parks Canada, image generated by CIMS)
This project presented the unique challenge of modelling from secondary sources as earlier roofs only had paintings, photographs, or drawings available for reference. The goal of the video was to create an immersive experience that allows viewers to see the earlier tower phases in a new way.
The final video shows a pan around the tower in point cloud before fading to the BIM of the tower. Each of the historical phases is placed on the tower like a hat with a voiceover describing the tower’s history. The 360 images follow the introduction explore each room of the tower. These images were made specially by CIMS using 360 BIM images overlaid with coloured photographs from the tower’s interior to highlight important elements.
The video will be offered in both English and French with described video options in both languages. It will be found on the Parks Canada YouTube page once posted.