Global construction company AECOM and construction software giant Trimble are teaming up for the world’s first real-world application of Microsoft’s HoloLens for the AEC industry. The pair have plans to test and apply the new technology via a pilot program on three different continents using both the HoloLens device and Trimble’s mixed-reality solutions.
HoloLens (for those of you who don’t know) is known as the world’s most advanced holographic computing platform. It creates high-definition holograms and inserts them directly into your reality (meaning you literally can see a holographic representation of an object right in front of you). Through the use of a lightweight headset, users are able to come into a world where a digital overlay collides with their own reality seamlessly.
Trimble is helping advance this technology into the construction industry by connecting 3D engineering models into the actual HoloLens device. Users at AECOM are able to view 3D models of projects of different complexities and sizes on (for example) an ordinary table. They can zoom in and out of the model and can see what it would actually be like to move through the structure itself before it’s built.
AECOM President Stephen M. Kadenacy said, “Exploring complex structures in a mixed-reality environment has huge potential to accelerate the engineering design process. With this technology we can gain greater clarity earlier in the design review process than with 2D drawings or 3D models on screen, and team members in different locations, each wearing a headset, can simultaneously explore the same holographic projections. We’re very excited to be working with Trimble at the cutting edge of mixed-reality.”
AECOM and Trimble are using this technology for the Serpentine Galleries’ program in London, which this year, plans to build four complex houses with the aid of HoloLens, in addition to their other projects mentioned above. HoloLens’ powerful technology, although just at its infancy stage in the AEC industry now, will become a household staple in entering into the new era of construction, where technology helps us build the future.
“As an early adopter of Microsoft HoloLens, AECOM is already demonstrating the value of mixed reality in the architecture, engineering and construction industry. Aided by Trimble solutions and the HoloLens in a business setting, the company is learning first-hand how the technology can improve efficiency and enable effective collaboration throughout the design process.” (Bryn Fosburgh, Vice President at Trimble.)
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