The natural strength of an unconventional path

In a world increasingly focused on sustainable construction, WholeTrees Structures stands tall, much like the timber they champion. Their mission is to transform the carbon-emitting construction industry with regenerative, solid timber products. Based in Madison, Wisconsin, they specialize in Structural Round Timber (SRT)—the use of unmilled, whole trees that retain their natural, organic strength and captivating biophilic forms.

Kevin Stewart, an Architectural Project Manager and the leader of strategic initiatives at WholeTrees, embodies the company's innovative spirit. A landscape architect by training, Stewart’s passion for environmental sustainability and his deep understanding of natural tree forms found a unique synergy at WholeTrees. "Formerly, I used to work with living trees," Stewart shares. "Now, I work with trees in their post-life state. Because it's not milled, it's still the natural form of the trees. It's like I'm rediscovering and relearning all about things I already knew, but never thought about from a structural or mechanical perspective."

WholeTrees acts as a crucial link, guiding projects from responsible forest sourcing—often utilizing trees culled for forest health, invasive species, or timber otherwise considered waste or low-value for traditional lumber—through fabrication, turning architectural visions into tangible, awe-inspiring structures. But working with the inherent irregularities of SRT posed significant challenges, especially in translating these unique geometries into the precise world of architectural and engineering design.

Overcoming the bottlenecks of traditional scanning

Before Polycam, WholeTrees relied on terrestrial LiDAR scanning—a Faro station—to capture their timber. While providing accuracy, the process was a bottleneck. "It was very involved," Stewart recalls. "The equipment was cumbersome to handle in the yard, and required specialized software with a steep learning curve. Only about three people in the company could effectively manage the entire workflow, from physical scanning to digitally processing the point clouds into usable polymeshes." 

This workflow could take up to seven business days to get a processed, usable scan ready for design teams. The complexity also meant that knowledge retention was a challenge as team members evolved. The friction was pronounced, slowing down a company dedicated to the efficient use of natural resources. Stewart, having encountered Polycam's mobile scanning capabilities in his previous role, saw an opportunity for a profound shift.

A new "flow": Integrating Polycam into the timber lifecycle

Stewart introduced Polycam to WholeTrees, recognizing its potential to democratize 3D capture. "The speed, the accessibility, the great user interface that Polycam had, and the fact that you can use it on a phone—anyone’s phone—meant basically anyone in the company already had the physical equipment they needed," he says.

The transformation was immediate and impactful. The new workflow for capturing individual timber pieces for inventory and project-specific use became remarkably fluid:

1. Scan: Once a tree is felled and brought to the yard, it's hoisted (often just onto sawhorses, requiring less intensive equipment than before). Using an iPhone equipped with Polycam Object Capture—the app's powerful photogrammetry mode—and often a selfie stick for extended reach, team members meticulously walk around the timber, capturing hundreds of photos. "There is an art to it that's part of Polycamming that I love teaching," Stewart notes. "It's about guiding your phone in a way that the Polycam app can build a complete understanding of the form you're trying to capture."
2. Process & Refine: The photos are uploaded to Polycam’s cloud for rapid processing into a 3D mesh. Stewart’s team then uses Polycam’s 3D Model Viewer for quick refinements in-browser. "We'll throw a yardstick down next to the tree when scanning. Then, using the Measurement Tool within Polycam, we can easily rescale the model for dimensional accuracy and check critical diameters and lengths right in the browser. The cropping and rotating tools are also very intuitive for isolating the object."
3. Share & Collaborate: The cleaned, accurately scaled 3D model, available via Polycam’s 3D Exports in formats like OBJ or FBX, can then be shared. "The fact that I can generate a shareable link directly from Polycam's 3D Model Viewer, send it to anyone else—even if they don’t have an account—and they can open it, twist it around, and see it in their browser, that's amazingly powerful as a preview,' Stewart explains." Architects and designers then integrate these models into their preferred platforms like Revit or Rhino.

This streamlined process has been transformative. "With Polycam, our scanning and processing workflow for structural round timber went from seven business days to about half a day—a dramatic improvement in speed and ease of use. It's pretty incredible how it has transformed our ability to quickly share accurate 3D models with our design partners," Stewart emphasizes. While terrestrial scanning is still used when a project calls for it, the number of employees capable of performing scans has doubled with Polycam, from three to six, with the potential for more as the company grows. Geographically dispersed teams, like their fabrication facility in northern Maine, can now scan trees and share the data through Polycam, facilitating collaboration with the Wisconsin-based design and project management teams almost instantaneously. Moreover, these readily available, high-quality scans produced with Polycam will be integral to continuing to add to  WholeTrees' innovative Timbers 3D inventory platform, offering architects a rich digital library to explore and specify unique timber for their designs.  

Showcasing innovation on a global stage: The Venice Biennale

The efficiency and collaborative power unlocked by Polycam were put to a significant test in early 2025. Researchers from MIT’s Digital Structures group and KVA Matx architects approached WholeTrees to be an industry partner for an exhibit at the prestigious Venice Architecture Biennale. The project, "TREE FORM," aimed to explore the integration of emerging 3D scanning (leveraging Polycam's capabilities), algorithmic design, and automated engineering analysis to transform irregular, underutilized wood into high-performance architectural structures.

WholeTrees was tasked with sourcing, scanning, fabricating, and delivering the actual KVA Matx-designed timber structure for the exhibit—all within a compressed two-month timeframe. "It was exciting and challenging," Stewart admits. Members of the MIT research team collaborated with WholeTrees in Maine, using Polycam's Object Capture to quickly perform accurate scans of the selected timbers. These 3D models were crucial for the MIT Research team's computational design iterations and for WholeTrees’ partner structural engineers, Engineering Ventures, to provide structural analysis.

"Polycam was instrumental," Stewart states. "Its speed allowed us to quickly provide the MIT and KVA Matx teams with the accurate 3D models they needed to move forward with their design and analysis for the TREE FORM exhibit. We wouldn’t have met the tight deadlines without that rapid, accessible scanning capability." The ability to quickly share the digital assets between Maine, Wisconsin, and the MIT Research team was paramount to the project's success, culminating in the impressive 12-foot tall TREE FORM structure being shipped to Venice and unveiled to an international audience. The exhibit itself highlights how technology like Polycam can help scale the use of sustainable materials like SRT.

A future built on natural forms and digital precision

Polycam has become a highly useful tool in WholeTrees' mission, removing friction from their unique workflow and empowering their team to focus on the beauty and structural integrity of timber. Architects and engineers working with WholeTrees now receive detailed, accurate 3D polymesh models of the exact timbers destined for their projects—delivered through 3D Exports—allowing for better design visualization, clash detection, and precise connection detailing in software like Revit and Rhino. While terrestrial scanning is still used for certain projects, Polycam has greatly optimized the company’s processes. This clear communication and data richness fosters confidence and streamlines the entire design-to-fabrication pipeline.

Looking ahead, WholeTrees can see a future with the potential for even more technological integrations, including AI for batch scanning and inventory management, augmented reality for fabrication, and robotics. But the core principle remains: to honor the natural material and enhance its application through smart, accessible technology. WholeTrees is not just building structures; they are cultivating a more sustainable and aesthetically rich future for the built environment, one beautifully unique tree at a time.

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