Ng Andrew - B4: Virtual Reality on Jobsites

Virtual Reality on Jobsites

Project Description/Why It was Chosen:

Alexander Koo, Taryn Francischetti, and I chose to do our project on Virtual Reality in the Construction Industry. With the upcoming years, technological impact in most industries would make processes much more convenient and “interesting”. Virtual Reality being one of the peculiar advances has touched the surface of the construction industry and is starting to be implemented. The reason we chose this topic is because of the great amount of benefits. VR if set up on a construction site can enable contractors, architects, engineers, etc., to overlay their design with existing features. With proper orientation of survey “control points”, the device can detect the space that the design should be built on and populate the visual representation right on top of what is on the site. The huge convenience of having the design seen as a virtual representation would increase construction efficiency by many folds as the parties involved, in my opinion, should collaborate easier and detect any flaws in design earlier in the process.

Relation to IB:

Intelligent Building involves an integrative approach in construction. VR being “integrative” and “intelligent” (to be determined with future improvements) follows the idea of Intelligent Building as it would involve a new technology that may make the building process more efficient. VR would allow for parties involved in construction to get the model, possibly from BIM/Revit, and have it shown at the site the design is going to be built. By seeing the design at the site, collaboration should increase. Walkthroughs of the design at the site may allow for clients to understand and get the idea of what is going to appear after construction. This will also allow for any changes in design and reduce the amount of possible change orders, ultimately saving money. By bringing the design to reality, or I should say a “virtual reality”, the design process should become more efficient.

Challenges:

The virtual reality in construction is still only starting to be implemented and has not become a standard practice. Finding research for the paper, that may have to go up to 3500 words, may be a challenge. The numbers to support how the technology works may have to be pulled from current devices that aren’t used for construction and then explained in an entrepreneurial approach. The approach may include an explanation on surveying then research on detection/recognition programs. Once explaining how the VR device can find the survey points, the idea of populating the visual representation of the design on site will then be researched. Many flaws with the overlaying of the model to existing features may occur.

References:

http://blog.echelonvr.com/5-construction-companies-virtual-reality/

http://www.valuewalk.com/2017/02/virtual-reality-construction/

http://www.valuewalk.com/2017/02/virtual-reality-construction/

https://aec-business.com/virtual-reality-construction/

Comments:

Maisson Ksara – Intelligent buildings not being the same as green buildings is an interesting concept. I would guess your research will find a lot of LEED topics such as what specifies a platinum or gold certification. You may find the LEED’s point system. One thing that could be something interesting that LEED does is that: For some of their points rewarded, the owner of the building can give money to build some green infrastructure elsewhere, perhaps in a 100mile radius, if the green infrastructure physically can’t be built on his/her site. Since the green feature would be elsewhere but LEED may term the building green, it wouldn’t technically be “green” but may be “intelligent”.

Egla Qori – Using Revit to model a structural frame for a forty-story hotel sounds great. Using a school project to gain insight of an application for your career is something good. It sorts of makes me jealous of not thinking along the same lines. One thing I am wondering however is how the shape of the building would be like. Would there be different elevations on the site? Is the building a rectangular box or would it have some geometric complex shape at the roof or along the side? I know framing would probably have a column stacked rectangular grid, but with my lack of experience, I am curious if the framing would change if some architectural feature demands it.

Andy Dinh – Comparing the use of Revit and Bentley Architecture is something I wouldn’t know so I would like to read your paper when it’s done. I have never used Bentley applications, and I unfortunately don’t know what the interface even looks like. Sharing files between the two would also go hand in hand with what we just researched with BIM limitations. If there is a way, that’ll be cool. One thing I’m wondering though: Are the programs similar? And if they are wouldn’t one program try to absorb the other? Would people eventually gravitate to one program as opposed to the other as it is more used? I know Revit is trying to be the “centerpiece” of the construction process, and I don’t know anything about Bentley Architecture. As a third party without much knowledge, if I were a designer and Revit were the main program, I wouldn’t touch Bentley Architecture unless I had to.