We are thrilled to announce that IrisVR is joining forces with Autodesk. It wasn’t that long ago that IrisVR joined The Wild, united by a shared vision of providing immersive collaboration tools to the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry to drive efficiency and deliver value to our users.

This is the fourth and final post in a series about tech-enabled pre-occupancy evaluations, which are opening up a new world of possibilities for AEC. To read more from this series, see our previous 3 posts on how pre-occupancy evaluations can drive higher quality project delivery, reduce waste and rework, and take internal design processes to the next level.

Costly Coordination Errors Demand a Digital Transformation

On average, construction job site errors waste $1 trillion each year. Trying to interpret final 2D construction documents on site of increasingly complex  Revit or Navisworks models leads to an abundance of errors, costly rework, and delays.

“Within five minutes [of using VR], we caught what could have been a $20K error.”

-Edward Hodge, Creative Director, BRC

Summary

When Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation tapped BRC Imagination Arts to create an emotional centerpiece experience for their newest exhibition, Driven to Win: Racing in America presented by General Motors, the central challenge was delivering on a short, nine-month timeline. Using Prospect by IrisVR, the BRC team was not only able to streamline its design and review process, but also design key aspects of the custom-built theater, like the emotional look and feel and the ergonomics of the space. VR was a crucial tool that helped BRC craft an immersive brand experience on a very tight turnaround.

This is the third post in a series about tech-enabled pre-occupancy evaluations, opening up a new world of possibilities for AEC. To read more from this series, see our post on how VR-Enabled pre-occupancy evaluations drive higher quality project delivery and reduce waste and rework. 

Effective Internal Collaboration is Critical to Lean Construction

With narrow margins, competitive bidding processes, rising environmental and sustainability concerns, and corporate accountability now on center stage, lean construction practices have become downright necessary. Efficient communication and coordination help projects stay on time and on budget - but, in the AEC industry, where some parties are more resistant to change, minimizing barriers is important. 

Image Credit: Lynn Hey/ News & Record

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

Working Digitally Removes Physical Costs and Constraints

In an industry where project bids can be fierce, and profit margins tight, effective use of technology can be a force multiplier to staying on time and on budget - even under less than ideal conditions like those we find ourselves in this year.

Shifting to digital and virtual design review, and leveraging technology like VR that allows you to do so at scale, is a game changer in a number of ways. For one - outside of VR, there is no way to instantly and immersively walk through projects at 1:1 scale early in the phases of design development.

BIM + VR makes pre-occupancy evaluations accessible and experiential in ways never before realized. They can be approached early on with an attitude akin to rapid prototyping. This is a huge competitive advantage in industries like restaurants and retail, where competition is stiff. They can swiftly prototype and hone their spaces and refine the brand experience and touchpoints of all types, directly alongside their evolving customer base.

When working virtually, real-world constraints such as space, labor, and materials - along with their associated costs - are nullified. It doesn’t cost anything extra to digitally A/B test design options, nor does it take up any extra resources or time. In VR, with the click of a button, you can showcase limitless combinations and variations of an idea or project - and any and all relevant stakeholders can experience it as if it were already built, and they were there. Without geographical constraints, virtual review and collaboration can also help get a broader and more accurate survey sample of potential customers and end users.

VR swings the door wide open, ushering in faster and more powerful ways to understand options and iterations, without the sustainability nightmare of having to build out mockups.

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.