Immersive Design and Immersive Review

This post is the second of four on how quality assurance and quality review processes can be augmented with virtual reality and immersive review.

The Future of Design is Immersive

At IrisVR, we believe the future of design is immersive. Three trends within the building industry have pointed us to this conclusion.

increasing adoption of 3D models within the design and construction process
commercial availability of robust Virtual Reality headsets
a growing community of firms in the building industry that are improving their workflows with new processes, new roles, and at times -- new services.

So what is Immersive Design?

The goal of Immersive Design in the building industry is to improve outcomes through the intuitive communication of design intent.

Immersive Design is the enhancement of traditional design processes by means of immersive technology such as virtual reality and augmented reality. The goal of Immersive Design in the building industry is to improve outcomes through the intuitive communication of design intent. As a process it takes advantage of the aforementioned trends by allowing organizations and firms to focus their tools on improving the overall experience of communication with clients and stakeholders, internal and external. While much of technology in the building industry has moved to improving the means of production (fabrication, robotics, drones), there has been little to no innovation on the way in which the building industry communicates with each other -- it still relies on producing 2D drawings even though clients (for the most part) aren't trained to read them. Even renderings have reached a kind of ceiling with their artistry for realism and at times, surrealism.

Turn off layers to view different layout options.

What about Immersive Review?

Immersive Review is all about getting clear and actionable results out of the review process with other stakeholders.

If Immersive Design encompasses a number of broad use-cases for design in virtual reality, Immersive Review captures a distinct subset of the larger movement. Defined as a method for delivering better projects by establishing clear expectations, Immersive Review fits into traditional QA / QC processes by augmenting their effectiveness for decision making. Empowered through virtual reality, Immersive Review is all about getting clear and actionable results out of the review process with other stakeholders. IrisVR's Prospect brings Immersive Review within reach of all types and sizes of organizations.

Virtual prototypes

The use of virtual prototypes with Prospect as part of your QA / QC process will help mitigate costly outcomes for your clients

One impactful way of understanding the power of Immersive Review is through the lens of prototypes. Unlike manufacturing, and related industries, most buildings and infrastructure projects are prototypes. Put another way, there is hardly ever an R & D process preceding the construction of a building or infrastructure project. Each one is a singular problem. Being able to virtually prototype a space can help reduce errors, omissions, inconsistencies, defects, and deficiencies that are traditionally only uncovered and understood at the very end of a project -- during Construction Administration or even later. In the context of mockups, many different project typologies (Healthcare, Life Science, Education, Large Commercial to name a few) have well known requirements for the construction of costly physical mockups. The use of virtual prototypes with Prospect as part of your QA / QC process will help mitigate costly outcomes for your clients -- as an example. this case study explains how Mortensen used Prospect to gather feedback on design options with key stakeholders in the design and construction of hospital rooms.

The next chapter in our series will introduce you to the technology you'll need to start augmenting your QA / QC workflows.