Codex Rebuilt Singapore Polytechnic's First Campus in 3D from One Photo
I gave Codex, on GPT-6 Astra, one old black-and-white photo of SP's Prince Edward Road campus. It rebuilt the campus in 3D and flew a camera into a classroom.
I gave Codex one old black-and-white photo of Singapore Polytechnic’s first campus. It rebuilt the whole campus in 3D.
I built the embroidered SP history with Claude Code for a sharing session with SP alumni. For the same session, I also tried Codex, on GPT-6 Astra, for fun. Same goal: learn what a new model can and cannot do.
What it CAN do
Turn one aerial photo of the old Prince Edward Road campus into an editable 3D model, about 100,000 triangles, then fly a camera from the sky, down the road, through a doorway and into a classroom.
It also read the heritage records of the building to fill in what the photo couldn’t show. The National Heritage Board’s record says the campus was designed by Swan and MacLaren and completed in 1958, with connected concrete blocks, a four-storey lecture block and a mosaic entrance foyer.
What it couldn’t, at first
Its first classroom door wouldn’t cut through, because the walls were built inside out.
And it badly underestimated render time. The 60-second film took 1.6 hours to render.
Behind the scenes
- 3D: Blender, driven entirely by Python. No modelling by hand.
- Research: heritage records of the building to fill in what the photo couldn’t show.
- Film: a 60-second flythrough, with music composed from synthesised notes.
- Bonus: the same model became a snow globe with a raised 3D SP crest that alumni could spin live.
The first flythrough was ready in under 1.5 hours. The full presentation pack, by evening.
To be clear
It’s an interpretation, not a survey. The exterior is estimated from one photo, and the classrooms are imagined.
Part of a series
I’m building small things for fun to learn what each new model can and cannot do. The Claude Code version of this experiment is the embroidered SP history. And for Mid-Autumn, four AI models designed their own lanterns.
Sources
National Heritage Board (Former Bestway Building), SP’s About page and Remember Singapore’s archive photos of the old campus.
An unofficial tribute, not affiliated with Singapore Polytechnic.
Frequently asked
- Can Codex build a 3D model in Blender?
- Yes. Here it drove Blender entirely through Python, with no modelling by hand. From one aerial photo it built an editable model of about 100,000 triangles, then animated a camera through it and rendered a 60-second film.
- How accurate is the 3D campus?
- It is an interpretation, not a survey. The layout and main shapes follow the photo and heritage records, but the exterior details are estimated from one photo and the classrooms are imagined.
- How long did it take?
- The first flythrough was ready in under 1.5 hours, and the full presentation pack by the evening. Rendering was the slow part: the 60-second film took 1.6 hours to render.