Incredibly accurate laser-scanning technology, precise down to a hundredth of a millimeter, has helped British architects not only plan a new structure but also secure permission from a local planning commission. Their proposed Rock House, now approved, preserves both natural and architectural features currently on a government-protected site.

Cornish firm Poynton Bradbury Wynter Cole (PBWC) Architects enlisted CESurveys to lidar scan the existing property, located in a conservation area. Their scanner system fires tens of thousands of lasers per second to get precise distance readings on complex terrain. Compared to traditional surveying and site-mapping strategies, this approach is much faster, cheaper and more effective.

The results are translated into a three-dimensional model that can be manipulated, showing the effects of site changes or interventions. Scans from around sites are stitched together to form a complete picture.

The resulting models have an array of benefits, including the ability to show approving parties what the impacts of additions and remodels might be to a given property. They also helped the architects, in this case, maintain key lines of site, such as views out to the sea, and limit the cost of revisiting the site frequently to document additional features. Slices of the scans also make it easy to generate sections and elevations, sliced directly out of the models.

Applications of lidar scanning goes well beyond architecture, too, including the ability to document historic infrastructure and preserve 3D models of fresh crime scenes.

Serving as a bright and bold last-chance warning for vehicles about to enter tunnels, this wall of water painted turns into a kind of hovering hologram designed to STOP impending drivers from creating or compounding tunnel disaster situations.

Dubbed Softstop and deployed first in Australia, the liquid signage does no damage should a car or truck pass through, but still provides an impossible-to-ignore signal for drivers. It is used to warn off too-tall trucks and deter Sydney Harbor Tunnel entry in cases of fires or crashes going on inside the tunnel.

This solution came about after conventional signage failed to warn off drivers in an emergency. “We had a fire in the tunnel,” explains Harbor Tunnel GM Bob Allen, “motorists ignored the warning lights and signs and continued driving towards the fire. These drivers exposed themselves to smoke and toxic fumes from the fire and then to compound the situation they turned around (in a one way tunnel) and drove back out of the tunnel against incoming traffic.”

The wall-of-water solution came about as a collaboration between Laservision, a creative technology firm that designs architectural lighting, and a pump manufacturer: Grundfos.

Laser engraving wraps all the way around these clever and customizable pins, creating anything from robots and dinosaurs to mazes and words to liven up your edible creations.

In addition to animal, geometric and typographical themes, Valek Rolling Pins offers fully-custom options as well as designs sorted by holiday and season, including Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day.

The pins are placed on a rotating spindle and then laser-engraved with a choice of patterns, the process leaving the wood char-darkened in the resulting voids against the lighter starting surface.

Aside from the appealing marks they make on dough for cookies, pies and otherwise, the patterns also add a display dimension for those who keep their rolling pins visible when not in use. In addition to the cute effects in this case, this array of options is also a good reminder of the non-standard creative possibilities for laser-etching technologies.

Like giant-sized fingerprints, urban grid patterns are unique to each city – this project turns that individuating property into an wearable asset, allowing you to hang you hometown or favorite metropolis around your neck as a point of pride.

Currently in crowdfunding on Kickstarter, the Urban Gridded Dogtag set is a “collection of unisex accessory so that architects, cartographers, urban planners, urban explorers, nomads, travelers, jet setters” and others can enjoy. New York City, San Francisco, Paris and Tokyo – can you tell which is where? Many more are also shown below.

The tags come in laser-cut black, gold-plated or stainless steel, with circular variants also available for those who want something without the implicit military reference. Many major cities have already been ‘unlocked’ and further ones will become available depending on how well-funded the campaign becomes before it closes (just one week left!).

From the creators: “Each piece is carefully designed to capture the cities underlining iconic street network as a lace-like pendant. The information is sourced from gps data by openstreetmap to ensure accurate portraits of the city. With chemical etching technology, the pendants are produced on thick .020″ Stainless Steel with a high level of detail, consistency, and quality. We strive for the component of the dogtags to be locally sourced, made in the USA. Including packaging and mailing supply.”

Like a flip book, there is no text, and each page of these volumes contains a slightly different scene. Except instead of paging through them rapidly to reveal the story, the ‘reader’ unfolds the entire book at once into a dynamic panorama.

Artist Yusuke Oono has a whole series of these 360-degree books telling stories of daily home life, remote jungle adventures, and everything in between.

Each one unfolds into a three-dimensional scene, created using CAD-derived designs and laser-cutting programs, completed with a splash of color.

The resulting negative space allows viewers to see through pages and visualize scenes, assembling them from the two-dimensional information on each layer – like rotational cut-outs of some miniature reality (or slices of life, if you like).

Ground, trees, walls and roofs provide the context – small figures of women, men and children tell silent stories that change with perspective and light. Each page is both a moment in space and in time. Brilliant, beautiful, simple.