Recently
here at CEI we received our developer’s kit from IrisVR including an Oculus
Rift headset. IrisVR is a new company developing software that will offer full
native support for many common 3D file types including SketchUp, Revit,
Blender, 3ds Max, Archicad, and IFC.
I
first met Shane Scranton from IrisVR at a conference in Chicago earlier this
year where he was promoting Virtual Reality for the AEC industry. After trying
out his sample file in VR I instantly saw the potential for Virtual Reality at
CEI as a design validation tool, so we signed up.
It’s
still early days but from what we have seen so far this type of technology is
already having an impact on our industry. Being able to tour a design virtually
immersed in the building has great benefit for both the client and the
designer. By allowing our clients to be able to tour the design virtually they
are able to better understand the space and design far easier than they could
from ready plan and elevation drawings. Virtually touring both the exterior and
interior of a building people are able to fully understand the design from
their virtual point of view.
Speculating on
the future of Virtual Reality and the design industry, I can easily see us
purchasing a number of the simpler headsets where you can that fit your smart
phone (available now), and offering to our clients the ability to download an
app and have available their model to tour. I imagine that eventually we will
have a number of users be able to experience the space simultaneously. For
example have a medical team including the surgeons, nurses and the
anaesthesiologist all together as avatars interacting together as they would
during a procedure in a surgical suite.
Here at CEI we
are already using this technology to show clients for design validation, this
is a great opportunity for us to get instant feedback from our clients on the
design and workability. By allowing our clients to tour the space virtually it
allows us to validate the design concepts and use this tool to explain the
aspects of one design over another.
Taking VR beyond
Architectural design; by integrating the consultants building information
models we are able to use VR to search for visual clashes between disciplines,
tour a mechanical room for manuverability or tour an area such as a lobby to get a
better feel and understanding to the space giving us the opportunity to make
minor design changes improving the space in ways we would not be able to see
without VR.
Virtual reality
is yet another technology that can take advantage of the building information
modeling process that CEI has fully embraced allowing us to yet again take the
business of architectural design to the next level.
Sc
