It’s always difficult for people to understand a new build or regeneration project. No matter how many drawings and fly-throughs are created it never quite answers the question – “how does it relate to me” or “what’s around the corner? If you consider the financial implications of public consultation or a proposal being rejected then anything that can help individuals (and stakeholders) understand should not be ignored.

Visualisation tools may let you create a 3D or even 4D fly-though of a proposed build but they rarely let you stray off the pre-defined track. In an immersive environment users can move around it at will – they are not confined to a particular path. What’s more multiple users can be active at any one time exploring the space together – no matter where they are in the world.

The ultimate expression of this would be in regeneration planning where people could actually “live” in the proposed design over an extended period, getting to know it, using public spaces and finding its good and bad points. And every movement could be tracked and logged if required. An immersive 3D model could provide a richness of quantitative and qualitative data – potentially including BIM data – unrivalled by any other technology.

Within an immersive environment objects can also have the same “behaviours” as they would do in real life – doors can open, lifts can go up and down, screens can show video, and sofas can be sat on. A virtual world can truly bring your proposals to life.

They can also reflect changes made to the plans and during the life-cycle of the proposed development stakeholders can meet in the environment to discuss issues and explore the buildings. Even after the building has opened in real life the virtual copy still has a role to play – as a training tool (e.g. health and safety training & emergency planning), a marketing tool or for incorporating energy efficiency data.

Daden projects:

• Virtual Library of Birmingham
• Millenium Point – BCU
• TheatreBase – Birmingham Hippodrome
• Inhouse – moving offices
• Bruntinthorpe
• New Malden (in house)
• BSCAPE