3D model of a painter’s shop in Warmoesstraat 138

Lead by Madelon Simons, this project consisted in remodelling the shop and house of a sixteenth-century Amsterdam painter, Dirck Barendsz.

The intention of the project was to explore virtual interiors as interfaces to historical data. While historical data can often be studied by way of quantification, qualitative close-reading and the identification of ‘longue durée’ patterns, could 3D modelling it show us something else — something that only spatial perception can offer?

3D model of the interior of a painter’s shop in Warmoesstraat 138
3D maquette of a painter’s shop in Warmoesstraat 138
3D maquette of a painter’s shop in Warmoesstraat 138
Model of a painter’s shop in Warmoesstraat 138

3D modelling locations from the past does not just serve an aesthetic purpose. It also implies confronting questions about missing historical information, the different perspectives to which they were bound, and the complex circumstances they were once part of.