Immersion: Digital Collaborative Environments

This thesis investigates the potential of Virtual Reality (VR) to solve established clashes in order to improve collaboration between industry professionals, while reducing spatial confusion. Industry professionals and academics state that it is collaboration itself that is one of the most critical factors in ensuring that a construction project is successful. In recent years people have investigated VR as a tool to provide a better environment for design due to its immersive properties and training potential. Current research is primarily focussed on the technology itself, but there are few studies conducted on the people using the technology and what they need in order to do so effectively. While it is essential to further the knowledge in the technological aspect, it is also vital to ensure that people can use it to its full potential. The aim of this study is to explore the relationship between advanced technology being developed and the way that people will be using it, alongside VR’s applicability as a collaborative tool for architecture and construction projects The focus of this study. While there are companies using VR in different stages of a project, it is unknown how productive people are when using this medium and what they require in order to use the technology effectively. Initial interviews with professionals have shown that there are problems in both peoples understanding of the technology used on projects as well as the methods of Building Information Modelling (BIM). The second part of this study involved multiple experiments in which users were put in different scenarios to solve clashes in a digital model using VR and Computer Assisted Design (CAD). This was performed in groups to investigate how they used the technology as well as how they collaborated within the digital environments. Initial experiments were run in Unity without a VR headset, and the final experiment was run using a VR headset (HTC Vive) for the full immersive experience. From these interviews and multiple experiments, the results produced insight into current user issues surrounding advanced BIM technology and the best way to implement them to make full use of the technologies capability during the design phase of a project. The results provided a framework detailing the information users need when using this technology to solve clashes collaboratively. Considering level of detail within the model alongside navigation tools, and perspectives provided a reliable method for aiding users in all aspects of collaborating in digital environments