Virtual Reality to Support the Integrated Design Process: A Retrofit Case Study

Abstract

Virtual Reality (VR) technologies have been used in building design and construction for many years. VR has primarily been applied for design review, worker and end-user training, 3D coordination, marketing, and demonstration. Previous research shows that VR technologies, such as interactive virtual walkthroughs, help the design team effectively convey design ideas, aid in the evaluation of architectural alternatives, and assist in the identification of design errors. Despite the benefits, VR has not yet been widely adopted in actual design practice. This paper examines the use of a VR media and display system in the design process of an energy retrofit project and identifies the benefits and challenges of using VR technologies for the project. The project team had access to an immersive display system throughout the design process. A research team supported the design team with the development of virtual reality solutions. The research team also documented and evaluated the uses of the immersive display system through surveys and case study analysis techniques. The case study shows that using VR tools and an immersive display system makes the design meetings more productive and the reviews more effective, provided the VR models are developed with appropriate level of detail and functionalities. The industry still lacks a general understanding of the benefit and use cases of VR technology. In addition, the lack of expertise in VR tools and VR display systems also impedes the wider adoption of the VR technologies in the current practice.

A design review session protocol for the implementation of immersive virtual reality in usability-focused analysis

“…Procedural challenges are usually reported in previous studies as observations from the development of case studies in which VR systems had been adopted. According to Whyte (2002) and Liu et al (2014), the development of more mature workflows and processes for incorporating VR tools for the AEC industry could increase the industry adoption of immersive virtual environments. Within this context, the need for a structured approach emerged in order to ensure the promised effectiveness and value of VR systems in design review.…”

“…The VR-aided usability-focused design review session protocol as described in this paper was developed and validated adopting an inductive research approach based on grounded theory methods for qualitative data collection and data analysis (Maftei et al, 2018;Liu et al, 2018;Van den Berg et al, 2017;Liu et al, 2014;Tutt and Harty, 2013). Grounded theory, in fact, is an inductive and comparative methodology to gather, synthetise, analyse and conceptualise qualitative data for the purpose of theory construction (Charmaz and Belgrave, 2012).…”

“…Virtual reality, in fact, has been also applied in previous researches as an occupancy evaluation tool to support clients, end-users and facility managers in collaboratively evaluating the functionality and usability of building spaces in order to feed back into the design stage the experience of the built environment in operation (Whyte, 2002;Hilfert and König, 2016;Tseng et al, 2017;Liu, 2017). For example, Liu et al (2014) showed how virtual facility prototypes allow reviewers to deeper understand the implications of design decisions. Van den Berg et al (2017) reviewed the literature to explore how design reviews can be supported by immersive virtual environments to communicate design intents as well as to ask for design feedback, allowing designers and clients to navigate through and comment on a design in progress.…”

Becoming familiar: how infrastructure engineers begin to use collaborative virtual reality in their interdisciplinary practice

“…Thus, this system complexity and the additional time it may require can inform expectations around early deployment of collaborative VR for design reviews, particularly if the goal is to maximize engagement with the design process and minimize user awareness of the mediating technology. For project managers, this suggests that more complex VR functionality should be balanced with optimized model scope and size (Liu et al 2014), particularly for less-experienced users. Otherwise, the time required to orient to new VR technology may compromise the time spent on engaging with the design process, thus reducing the overall effectiveness of the VR-supported design review.…”

Implementation of Virtual Design Reviews in the Generation of As-Built Information

“…In particular, a software solution that has been increasingly adopted is the use of game engines, such as Unity 3D, to visualize 3D building information (Kumar et al 2011). The visualization of virtual mockups and walkthroughs have been used to review design during the planning phase, support the energy retrofitting of existing buildings, and train facility managers for nuclear power plants (Liu et al 2014;Maldovan and Messner 2006;Whisker et al 2003). This growing implementation is due to virtual design reviews' ability to give the reviewers an accurate sense of scale, depth, and volume, which reduces the overall cognitive demand of the design process.…”