Seeing Into the Future with Virtual Reality
Virtual reality view of a coordinated room design
By Mike Stark, Assistant Project Manager, Kraus-Anderson
Would you like to walk through a new school, hospital or hotel before the first shovel reaches the ground? What about experiencing the final play of a game-winning drive through the eyes of an NFL quarterback or practicing a complex brain surgery in a virtual environment?
These ideas may sound like scenes from the Iron Man film series, but virtual reality is making them possible today. While virtual reality has existed for decades, recent advances have moved it to the forefront as a disruptive technology with applications across many industries.
What Is Virtual Reality?
Virtual reality, or VR, is an artificial environment experienced through computer-generated sensory input, including sight and sound. Users can interact with a three-dimensional, immersive environment through a computer and VR headset.
Before 2016, consumer VR options included the Google Cardboard and Samsung Gear VR, both of which required a mobile phone. Higher-end headsets such as the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive then became available to the public.
Greater access to VR equipment and lower entry costs accelerated investment and development across industries. In sports, companies such as STRIVR used VR to help quarterbacks study defensive schemes and blitzes from the film room. In healthcare, organizations including Surgical Theater worked with universities such as UCLA on virtual reality training for brain surgery, allowing surgeons to practice procedures before performing them with patients.
Virtual reality coordinated plan for building systems
Virtual Reality and Construction
As VR expanded in other industries, construction professionals began exploring how it could improve design, coordination and collaboration.
Virtual reality can change the way architects, contractors and owners engage with project designs. For many people, the spatial qualities of a building can be difficult to understand from two-dimensional construction documents. VR can bring drawings to life, allowing project stakeholders to walk through a planned classroom, operating room or apartment before construction begins.
Experiencing a design before it is built can help teams identify concerns and make decisions earlier. Recognizing a needed finish or design change in a virtual environment may help an owner avoid the time and cost associated with a later change order.
Virtual reality also has potential as a safety training tool. Project teams can use immersive environments to identify hazards and review how to address them in a controlled training setting.
VR can also expand the practical use of BIM. Designers, contractors and subcontractors could participate in a virtual project walkthrough, identify potential building-system conflicts and review solutions while working from different locations.
Learn more about Building Information Modeling and Virtual Design and Construction services.
Construction industry adoption of virtual reality was still in its early stages when this article was published. Kraus-Anderson’s Research and Development team tested VR equipment, software and applications to identify practical uses for project teams, clients and subcontractor partners.
The team explored Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Google Cardboard headsets in combination with software platforms such as Unity and Fuzor4. As research continued, the goal was to identify opportunities to apply virtual reality to future projects, including the KA Block.
The future of virtual design and construction is already here. Learn more about the BIM department, construction technology innovation and construction safety practices.
CATEGORY: Construction