Virtual reality once sounded so futuristic. For innovators in the AEC industry, VR for building is today’s technology, enabling engineering and construction teams to make giant strides forward in productivity. VR has broken through the barriers of the tech world and is now designed specifically with builders in mind. With enterprise-grade VR headsets more available and affordable than ever, VR technology for AEC no longer requires a technologist to implement or use. The ecosystem of VR software providers, like IrisVR, offers AEC companies powerful partners to help guide them through competition-shattering digital transformation.

This is the first in a series about tech-enabled pre-occupancy evaluations, opening up a new world of possibilities for AEC.

Using BIM to Bridge the 2D Communication Gap

As long as there’s been built environments, there has been a communication gap between designers and builders, and those who use and maintain them after. This gap often happens because things get lost in translation when looking at 2D plans and renderings representing 3D models, something that requires a great deal of spatial thinking.

There are always looming possibilities of change orders and rework during the building and construction administration phases, which can quickly cut into ever-narrowing profit margins. This is before you consider that, even with meticulous planning, research, interviews, and change orders completed on site, it’s often not until after a space is built and occupied for some time that more major issues and inefficiencies become apparent.

You can use an eraser on the drafting table or a sledgehammer on the construction site

- Frank Lloyd Wright

2020 has been a year. Despite shutdowns and other pandemic-induced changes, the augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) space has seen tremendous growth. How industries work has shifted dramatically in 2020, with newly remote workforces demanding better tools and technology to stay productive and new pressures placed on old industries to rise to the needs and challenges of a COVID response efforts around the world. Few industries have experienced this as much as the built world. While the digital transformation of the AEC industries was already on the horizon, it has been dramatically accelerated in 2020. AR/VR - both hardware and software - is the answer to many companies’ sudden need for cutting edge technology to stay competitive in a fast-changing world.

As an architect, IrisVR Founder & CEO Shane Scranton saw the potential that early virtual reality technology had for the built world. Fast forward to today, the IrisVR team partners with leading AEC companies around the world, like Gilbane, making game-changing immersive technology simple for enterprise AEC.

Virtual reality has been talked about for ages now, mostly in the context of gaming. It’s become synonymous with “the future” by taking on a life of its own in futuristic sci-fi movies and art, making it feel like a bit of a stretch in this reality. It’s not. It’s happening right now. Yes, VR gaming is a thing, but also, and more significantly, virtual reality is transforming the industries that build our physical reality.