Retail Storefront Redesign - SketchUp Model in Ottawa
A lightweight 3D model that let the design team explore layout options before committing to construction drawings.
The Challenge
A national retail chain was planning a brand refresh for one of its Ottawa locations. The interior designer needed an accurate 3D model of the existing space to explore layout options, test fixture placements, and present concepts to the corporate team - all before committing to construction documents.
Speed was the primary constraint. The design deadline was 3 weeks away, and the lease required construction to begin within 60 days. There was no time for hand measurement, iterative site visits, or the back-and-forth that typically accompanies manual documentation of a retail space.
The corporate approval process required visual presentations, not floor plans. The design team needed a 3D model they could manipulate, render from multiple angles, and use to communicate spatial relationships to decision-makers who would not be visiting the site in person.
Our Approach
The storefront was scanned in a single morning session while the store was closed. 18 scan positions captured the full interior including the sales floor, back-of-house storage areas, washrooms, and staff areas. The scan was completed before the store opened for the day, requiring no disruption to business operations.
A registered point cloud was produced from the scan data within 2 business days. From that point cloud, a SketchUp model was built focusing on the elements most relevant to the design team: wall locations, ceiling heights, column positions, storefront glazing dimensions, and existing mechanical penetrations through the ceiling and walls. The model was kept deliberately lightweight - detailed enough to support accurate design exploration, but clean enough to be easily manipulated in SketchUp without performance issues.
The complete SketchUp model was delivered within 5 business days of the scan, along with the registered point cloud for reference.
Deliverables
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Registered point cloud
.E57
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As-built SketchUp model - walls, ceilings, columns, storefront, mechanical penetrations
.SKP
Results
The design team used the SketchUp model to generate three layout options in under a week. Each option was rendered directly from the model and presented to the corporate team as part of the brand refresh approval package. The 3D visualisations made it straightforward for stakeholders to evaluate spatial relationships, sightlines, and fixture arrangements without requiring an in-person site visit.
The corporate team approved a concept based on the 3D visualisations without visiting the site. Construction drawings were commissioned immediately after approval, using the same scan data as the dimensional reference. This eliminated the need for a separate measurement phase during the construction documentation stage.
From scan day to approved concept, the entire process took under two weeks - well within the 3-week design deadline.
"We went from scan to approved concept in under two weeks. The SketchUp model made it easy for everyone on the team to understand the space without visiting the site."