All AEC industry (architecture, engineering and construction) have always involved the necessity of exchanging information between different project stakeholders. Traditionally, this flux of information was either made through a piece of paper or over oral communication, which can be insufficient considering the complexity of contemporary construction projects. Weak communication between the project stakeholders can compromise the productivity of a construction project.
Virtual Reality has seen a considerable development concerning its hardware in recent years that it is currently putting this technology in a ‘spotlight’ and raising a considerable amount of investments. By putting the users on a human scale, the users have a natural perspective as being ‘present’ at the virtual model, and this allows the detection of potential design defects concerning ergonomics, constructability, and aesthetics.
The aims of usage VR in architecture with the MiroWin studio development services can be different, for example, – education and training.
1. Education.
The applications in VR with educational purposes can be designed to be used during all phases of the learning process of AEC students. Didactic models can be prepared by the teachers to present interactive experiments in physics or chemistry, structural detailing, architectural concepts, etc.
Having a 3D immersive environment can be an important tool to enhance the ability of students to develop their space perception. The interactivity of a virtual environment stimulates the participant on critical thinking, rather than being just passive learners.
Humans throughout their entire lives are accustomed to gain information knowledge by seeing objects on a human scale. The comprehension of a representation by viewing through a computer monitor or a drawing can be harder to learn, especially if the person does not yet have the technical knowledge to understand it. Often, structural elements can be difficult to represent on a 2D single plan, and requires many drawings to be able to represent it such as plans, detailing, sections, isometric view, etc. Having a 3D model that the participant can view from all angles and interact with helps the student more intuitively to comprehend the element.
2. Training
The VR applications created for training, however, allows one to do more than just simulating reality.
For example, in construction sites often the workers face risks in which minor mistakes could potentially create a harmful situation for the worker itself and others. The virtual world simulation can add the ability to practice uncommon, dangerous, and expensive tasks, without having to face ‘do-or-die’ consequences.
In VR it is possible to put these workers in potentially dangerous situations and be able to make them train until they are ready for it. Their mistakes committed in the application doesn’t generate any real consequences, and they can benefit with it by rewinding the experience over and over until they gained enough knowledge to understand the procedure for achieving success in the task.
By not doing everything correctly as well, the trainee learns the real consequences of their actions.
By practicing tasks in this computed-mediated system, other benefits are noticeable. The creator of the content has the control over what scenarios are going to be presented to the trainee, and possibly change the scenario in response to the performance. If the trainee is having difficulties in realizing one specified task, easier scenarios can be presented with increasing difficulty in order that the worker can understand better the process of accomplishing the task and learn from their previous mistakes. Because the scenarios are made in virtual environments, the performance can be easily recorded and analyzed.
Also read about how it’s possible to use VR in the real estate industry.