Visiting property projects without worrying about the rules of social distancing? With HEGIAS, several people can experience a building at the same time. The Swiss start-up is developing the world's first browser-based, platform-independent high-end solution for visualisation and communication using virtual reality for the construction and real estate industry.
Social distancing is important, but not always necessary. A Swiss start-up is leading the way: HEGIAS was able to launch its solution - a browser-based, platform-independent, automated solution for joint inspections of planned property projects with the help of virtual reality - shortly after the nationwide lockdown.
One reason why this has been so successful is the company's own pioneering technology. Using virtual reality (VR), employees from Ticino and the greater Zurich area met as if they were physically on site.
What is practical for a small development company and in times of the coronavirus will also make major waves in the property sector for other advantageous reasons.
Inspecting planned properties together
HEGIAS users move through the virtual, planned building objects just as they would in real life. With the multi-user function, the participants do not necessarily have to be physically in the same place. They can meet conveniently from anywhere in the virtual property and do not have to worry about social distancing rules and disinfection marathons.
Instead of static 3D models or even elaborate and material-intensive 1:1 model buildings, all stakeholders can walk through the rooms interactively at any point during the planning and construction phase. During the tour, materials, colours and objects can be changed at will - as flexibly as it will never be in reality.
With these new possibilities offered by the virtual world, everyone sees and understands the same thing without a layperson having to imagine anything from a plan or model. By having all stakeholder groups walk through the property projects together and discuss them on an equal footing, wishes are communicated much more clearly and tailor-made, already virtually tested and perhaps even bolder projects are created.
Planning, building and marketing more sustainably with VR
When you consider that the cement industry alone produces four times more CO2 than air travel, savings in the construction and property sector should be high up on the climate debate agenda. Travelling also accounts for a large proportion of CO2 emissions. When a property is planned, furnished or marketed, a wide variety of journeys are involved. By bringing all stakeholders together for joint inspections and collaboration meetings in virtual reality in future, several thousand tonnes of CO2 will be saved every year in Switzerland alone.
Clearer communication options also mean that fewer corrections need to be made to the finished building, saving additional journeys, transport and building materials.
Virtual reality for everyone
The team is certain that VR will play a major role in various areas of our lives in the future.
"Thanks to our solution, VR will soon be a mass medium and fundamentally change the planning, construction and property industry," says founding member and CEO Patrik Marty.
Whether it's the climate debate or the coronavirus crisis - the VR content management system is equally exciting for future owners and tenants of buildings as it is for current planners and developers. The HEGIAS CEO is certain that not having to imagine anything, but actually experiencing what something will be like, will set new standards: "Virtual reality will become the new standard in architecture."
Source: Media release
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