Virtual Reality for User Testing and Predictive Analytics
VR and immersive technologies can help architects share building designs as well as analyze and optimize them before construction begins. David Weir-McCall explains.
We’ve been hearing about the potential for virtual reality (VR) to help architects share building designs for some time. That’s because VR enables stakeholders and customers to not only see a structure before it’s built but also feel what it’s like to be inside and around it. But can VR actually help us improve designs? David Weir-McCall shares discoveries from Project Insight, a research effort at CallisonRTKL that used VR experiences to perform user testing on buildings during the design phase. The team captured metrics related to where users went in the virtual space, what they looked at, and for how long. This information enabled them to try new ideas, optimize their designs, and make their development process responsive, iterative, and agile—more like the development process for software and high tech.
About the speaker
David Weir-McCall is a digital design specialist at CallisonRTKL, where he focuses on adoption and customization of digital technologies in design and construction. David’s primary focus is the adoption of new design tools into architectural workflows, identifying both opportunities and support in the training and roll-out of new technologies.
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