A Mixed Reality Application for the On-Site Assessment of Building Renovation: Development and Testing

Abstract

This paper contributes to a sustainable construction design management approach to increase the successful renovation rate of existing residential building stock. Indeed, coupling BIM with mixed reality can speed up and improve the quality of the renovation design processes, because it can display virtual models of alternative design scenarios superimposed over the existing physical facility. To this purpose, a sample of technicians was enrolled to test the reliability of this technology. A prototype was developed that enables cooperation among stakeholders and the implementation of an efficient workflow. The volunteers carried out real-life tests in a building demonstrator in Caceres (Spain) and filled in two questionnaires with their feedback. The results showed that an MR-based platform can involve interested stakeholders in the assessment of renovation design projects, that speeds up the decision-making process and increases the quality of those projects. Moreover, technicians can master the technology quickly, provided that it is included in the current renovation workflow and some technology gaps are covered. However, the main limitations of this study are that these findings are valid for building renovation design only, and the tests were performed in a controlled, yet full scale, experimental environment. Finally, this paper deals with a few open technical issues, such as the efficient alignment of holograms, transformation of BIM models into a format suitable for mixed reality applications and sharing feedbacks in an on-line repository to foster collaboration.

Comparing threeXRtechnologies in reviewing performance‐based building design: A pilot study of façade fenestrations

“…Huang evaluated nine different MR apps for representing architectural design and construction layout 44 . Carbonari used MR to improve the quality of the building renovation design processes 45 . More technically advanced, to teach students indoor illuminance based shading design, Zhao coupled physical illuminance sensors BH1750 and HoloLens to stream and visualize real‐time illuminance values in MR 46 …”

Systematic Literature Review of Open Infrastructure BIM

“…Part of the research on Open BIM for infrastructure addresses a certain range of technologies, such as virtual and augmented reality, to improve management procedures and generally develop advanced methodologies. In 2022, Carbonari et al [105] published their paper demonstrating that an MR-based platform can involve interested stakeholders in the assessment of renovation design projects, speeding up the decision-making process and increasing projects' quality. Experimentation in this direction also harks back to earlier work, such as in the case of Zaker and Coloma [106], which involved BIM professionals in order to assess the limitations of applying VR in BIM, and how these issues might be overcome.…”

Immersive Technologies-Driven Building Information Modeling (BIM) in the Context of Metaverse

“…In the renovation and demolition stage, a total of six articles have been selected with leading research methods such as mixed methods [160][161][162][163][164] and modeling [165], as shown in Table 7. In terms of the number of articles, the renovation and demolition stage is significantly less than the other stages.…”

“…Renovation of building [160][161][162][163]: In the renovation work of buildings, studies focus on achieving effective communication among stakeholders while enhancing designers' perception and understanding of the on-site environment. The BIM4EEB rapid toolkit has been used to develop a DT-based BIM management system that connects to various stakeholders in the AEC domain and provides an interactive multifunctional toolkit [160].…”

“…Similarly, a hybrid representation tool has been provided for digital mock-ups to manage cultural heritage buildings [163]. In addition, an MR technology platform has been used to involve interested stakeholders in the evaluation of renovation design projects, thereby enhancing the renovation decision-making process and improving quality of the projects [161]. Furthermore, the use of BIM and MR technologies integrated with a background elimination method has been explored for collaborative design in the renovation process [162].…”