The effectiveness of interactive virtual reality for furniture, fixture and equipment design communication: an empirical study

Abstract

PurposeThis study aims to propose a novel approach to developing an interactive and immersive virtual environment for design communication in the furniture, fixture and equipment (FFE) sector. The study further investigates its effectiveness in enhancing the design communication and coordination between the stakeholder.Design/methodology/approachQuasi-experimental research was adopted involving 12 FFE professionals, designers and end-users in single-group pre-test-post-test design. The tests were performed primarily to ascertain the impact of the application of interactive virtual reality on delivering furniture design selection and coordination tasks. Further interviews were used to elicit participants' views on the functionality and usefulness of the proposed approach.FindingsThe findings indicate that an interactive immersive virtual FFE environment: enhances the productivity of the design team through a collaborative virtual workspace offering a synchronised networked design testing and review platform; reduces the time required for the stakeholders to comprehend the design options and test those; enhances the design communication and quality of the design and encourages the collaborative culture in the industry; improves the design satisfaction of the stakeholders; and finally, requires significantly less time for design decision-making when compared to traditional methods.Research limitations/implicationsFuture studies should incorporate space planning concepts and explore non-experimental methodologies in a real-life FFE project setup.Practical implicationsThe proposed approach provides opportunities for enhanced interpretation of design intent in FFE as well as efficiency in design selection and coordination tasks when compared with conventional two-dimensional methods of communication.Originality/valueThis study proposes a step change in the way furniture design is communicated and coordinated through an immersive virtual experience. Previous studies have not addressed the issue of impact on design coordination instead focussed on marketing and sales.

Guest editorial

“…Yet, a key limitation lies with this focus is that studies have tended to narrowly analyse particular technologies in isolation. So, in Prabhakaran's et al (2021) case, the focus is on virtual reality, and in Adinyira et al (2021), the focus is on machine learning. This therefore raises the question of how we evaluate what happens when a constellation of technologies is at play?…”

“…These papers share a common thread that Industry 4.0 technologies have the potential to bring different stakeholders together to co-produce the future. In the fifth paper of this special issue, for instance, Prabhakaran et al (2021) combined BIM and virtual reality in a quasi-experiment involving 12 professionals, designers and endusers in furniture, fixture and equipment design. They found that significantly less time was needed for decision-making, due to the virtual reality platform offering a synchronised collaborative opportunity for designers and end-users to test and review options.…”

“…where do we measure the productivity outcomes of Industry 4.0 technologies in the AEC industry, and how do we capture the impacts on managerial practicesthe seven papers included in this special issue go some way to address these questions. In terms of measuring productivity impacts, these tended to be activity based as we saw in Prabhakaran's et al (2021) study of designing furniture, fixtures and equipment, as well as in Ismail's ( 2021) study of detecting and correcting defects. The implications for managerial practices were somewhat broader, with the authors generally acknowledging that embracing Industry 4.0 in the AEC industry requires strategic and social change.…”

“…While these studies go some way to identify the benefits of Industry 4.0 technologies, perhaps in a bid to persuade incumbents in the industry that adopting such technologies is a good thing, capturing perceptions falls short of the depth required to understand and improve the actualities of practice. Furthermore, studies such as Prabhakaran et al (2021) and Ismail (2021) base their evaluations of whether the technology works or not on the basis of asking those "experts" who are already participating in the change. Thus, this bears the methodological limitations of capturing only the perceptions of a self-selecting group, i.e.…”

Virtual reality utility and usefulness in the furniture, fixture and equipment sector: a validation of interactive and distributed immersion

“…This potential of VR has attracted the attention of researchers from various sectors of the Architecture Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry, including the Furniture, Fixture and Equipment (FFE) sector. The FFE sector often communicates its designs with its stakeholders using traditional methods such as two-dimensional drawings/sketches (2D) and brochures (Prabhakaran et al, 2021). It has been noted in previous studies that the design decisions of stakeholders are strongly affected by the aesthetics of the FFE element and how well it blends with the architectural aspects of the building (Pakarinen & Asikainen, 2001;Prabhakaran et al, 2021).…”