42 MEP Middle East | A u g u s t 2 0 1 9 http://www.mepmiddleeast.com
FOOTNOTE
C
onstruction – and in turn engineering- is one of the oldest industries in the
world. As technology has grown, so
has the innovation of new tools to fos-
ter the industr y’s advancement since it’s earli-
est days.
Becoming more advanced does, however,
mean becoming more complex, and building
developers, alongside their future occupants,
are more empowered than ever to demand
more options, smarter technology and in-
creased sustainability.
Using virtual reality (VR) and augmented
reality (AR) during design development offers
the opportunity to get ahead of the project’s
complexities as well as being more cost-effec-
tive, effi cient, accurate and adaptable. Some-
thing I am sure we can all agree is benefi cial
to ourselves, the industr y, and to society in
general.
No longer are AR and VR just for games and
amusement; the technology is being adopted in
the healthcare industr y, education, retail and,
of course, engineering.
Both AR and VR are massively disrupt-
ing our industr y, and it seems this is only the
beginning, the market is set to reach a value
of $90billion globally by 2020 and is quickly
becoming a staple in both private and public
sector projects. In the construction industr y,
currently needed on active sites, AR enhances
the ways humans and digital machines work to-
gether, saving costs and material wastage.
Using the latest AR & VR technology, archi-
tects can fi nd a more creative and straightfor-
ward way to show urban planners what their
projects are going to look like by creating an
engaging visualisation, triggering faster deci-
sion making and more assurance at an earlier
stage of the building design process.
By creating detailed and interactive virtual
maps, developers can truly experience their fu-
ture structures; they can move around in them,
they can practically touch them and, therefore,
fully envision them.
This extraordinar y look into the future of
their project allows developers to envision
their interior design; it can highlight that ceil-Robert Davies has experienced first hand the power of
AR and VR technologies and their capabilities.for instance, immersive technology can help in
the development of smart cities with the collec-
tion of vast amounts of data – data that VR and
AR can make tangible.
Seamlessly blurring the lines between digital
information and physical settings, AR is help-
ing construction teams become more effi cient,
solve problems, and have greater confi dence in
their projects. Rather than replacing the people
Head of specialist services at WSP Middle East, Robert Davies,
says embracing rapid changes and advancements in technology
will help prepare us for the futureBEYOND BLUEPRINTS
ings need to be higher, that the placement of
stairs needs to change, and that an extra pool
on the roof would indeed fi t – decisions that
have traditionally been harder to convince the
developer of.
When people are passionate about their vi-
sion, they sometimes struggle to see any fl aws
until it’s too late; this technology allows their
vision to be brought to life before mistakes can
be made.
Embracing AR & VR on your project not only
saves time during the design and construction
process but also after.
Hotels are now able to complete their soft
openings early; they can train their staff virtu-
ally and practice a full dinner ser vice, giving
operators the ability to hit the ground running
as soon as the paint dries.
And it won’t stop at developers, after all, the
end-user is increasingly becoming more and
more the centre of our designs. We could use
VR at home to walk around a hotel room before
we book it, we could spend a journey in a vir-
tual car before we buy it, and we could even sit
around a virtual table having dinner with family
who are physically all over the world.
We could see a shift in priorities of how a
fi nished product looks, no longer considering
how it will look in a magazine or on an infl uenc-
ers social media post, but how it will look and
feel in AR & VR (and if their family will virtually
fi t around the table), possibly changing how we
design from the beginning.
To anticipate the future is to anticipate all
aspects of our own behaviours. It’s safe to say
we will demand more from our cities, our build-
ings, our technologies and even more from
each other; that’s our nature. Embracing these
rapid changes – changes in technology and how
we use it – now will prepare us for the future.With technology
moving quickly into
successful business use
cases, it is becoming
a part of our very
communities
Using technology,
architects can fi nd a more
creative & straightforward
way to show planners
what projects are
going to look like