Holographs, laser beams and VR changing building sites forever

It sounds like science fiction but technology transforming building as we know it is very real – and there will be massive amounts of money to be made.

Imagine walking through your new, perfectly styled home before the concrete slab is even poured. And building that same home without referring to a single printed plan.

Welcome to metaverse architecture, the art and technique of mixed reality craft.

“It’s just wild,” says digital strategist Rita Arrigo. “It’s really exciting and we are really just on the cusp of what’s possible.”

With increased accuracy and efficiency beyond traditional construction techniques, Arrigo says the technology offers greater opportunity to push design boundaries, allowing more bespoke buildings at a cheaper price.

“It will also problem-solve issues, such as how to use light to improve the way you heat your home,” she says.

“There’s a real evolution going on and these things are going to make our homes more beautiful and more functional.”

Digital strategist Rita Arrigo says we are only on the cusp of what's possible in the building and construction industry. Picture: supplied

Try before you buy

The technology has already infiltrated the home space. During Covid lockdowns, real estate agencies conducted open inspections in the virtual realm, while homeware companies use augmented reality to give online shoppers a sense of how furniture, artwork and rugs will appear in their home.

But Arrigo says that’s nothing compared to companies that are using AR to let home builders walk through their finished dwelling before construction has even started.

Open inspections in the virtual world quickly became a norm in real estate during the pandemic – but augmented reality now allows home builders to walk through their dwelling before it even exists. Picture: AAP Image/Julian Andrews

“We all want this stuff because we can’t imagine what (a finished home) is going to look like,” she says.

“So you come in (to the virtual home) and then you can choose the bits and pieces … for your kitchen and everything else.

“It’s going to lead to some really innovative design because if you are doing something radical, you want to see it before you commit. One day, we won’t build 3D models anymore – everything will be done in the virtual space.”

Aussie focus

Arrigo is particularly excited by the role Australia is playing in metaverse architecture, citing a number of local companies working in this area, including 3D and AR visualising platform Plattar

and RMIT University start-up Fologram.

Fologram’s sole focus in mixed reality applications is building design; two of three founders are trained architects, including chief customer officer Gwyllim Jahn.

Fologram's Gwyllim (Gwyll) Jahn, who plans to use his company’s AI software to build a new family home for himself, wife Rosemary Gunzburg, twins Kip and Elsie, nearly two, and dog Gough. Picture: Eugene Hyland

Among Fologram’s most recognised collaborations is a steam-bent timber pavilion, built using a mix of hand tools and interactive holographic guides, and a collection of intricate curved brick walls at Royal Hobart Hospital.

The walls were constructed by two bricklayers who replaced string lines and plumb bobs with AR headsets providing a holographic guide, allowing each brick to be perfectly positioned.

The entire project was finished in just seven hours of bricklaying. Using traditional methods, it would have taken weeks.

Fologram All Brick training includes bricklayers wearing VR headsets to follow the holographic images of where the bricks should be laid with accelerated speed and accuracy. Picture: supplied

“We’re blending the old crafts with new digital technologies,” says Jahn, who

hopes to build an entire house using mixed reality (plans for his family home are with council).

“It’s ridiculous that, at the moment, architects are designing buildings in 3D CAD (software) and then translating to

2D drawings. It’s so inefficient.”

Taking more risks

With the ability to see a finished building before work has even started, Jahn expects architects and home builders will embrace more unique and creative design.

“We are only just scratching the surface of what can be done,” he says.

“But if you can reduce the risks in doing something a bit different or a bit new, it encourages architects to take more risks (in their design).

“And the homeowner can be more confident that what is being designed will be exciting but (due to greater construction efficiencies) it won’t blow the budget and make them take out a second mortgage.”

Gwyll Jahn is wife Rosemary Gunzburg and twins Kip and Elsie, nearly two. Visible is virtual brick overlay down the side of the family’s current home, which will be replaced by a new home built using augmented reality software pending council’s approval of the plans Picture: Eugene Hyland

He hopes mixed reality will become mainstream within the construction industry within a decade, but says that depends on how readily training providers adopt the technology so that future tradies have the skills required.

The virtual home

Melbourne-based immersive tech studio Phoria says users are now flocking to virtual staging tools. Empty dwellings become beautifully designed spaces, helping prospective buyers visualise their new home.

There are even homes designed purely for the virtual world, never to physically exist. The modernist Winter House boasts floor-to-ceiling windows to capture its “snowy” surrounds. “A winter heaven in the metaverse,” the project statement explains.

Fologram brick projects use augmented reality software – visible is the holographic brick overlay. Picture: supplied

While it may seem gratuitous, there is big money at stake. The virtual real estate market is projected to pass $US5 billion by 2026, according to global market researcher Technavio. And yet Finder research reveals almost half of Australians don’t know what the metaverse is, while a quarter would prefer to buy property in the real world.

Despite this local lag, Phoria and Captur3d tech director Antoine Macia says mixed reality is a “game changer for the residential architecture, real estate and design industry”.

“In the near future, you can expect more personalised designs and home customisation capabilities, more accurate maintenance through digital twin visualisations (like the ability to look through walls) and … a more delightful way to experience content spatially,” he says.

At Home 2023: April 15 issue, cover story on building in the metaverse, Fologram brick projects using augmented reality software. Holographic bricklaying. Picture: supplied

Brush up on your VR vocab

Here’s our brief guide to the new frontier.

AI: The concept of artificial intelligence has been around since British polymath Alan Turing’s landmark 1950 paper, Computing Machinery and Intelligence. If Turing is the godfather of AI, then a 1956 conference at Dartmouth University in the US is widely considered its birthplace.

Avatar: An image that represents you online in places like games and chatrooms.

Metaverse: If the metaverse sounds like science fiction, it may be because the term was coined by author Neal Stephenson in his 1992 novel Snow Crash. It is a virtual world where humans, as avatars, interact in a 3D space that mimics or alters reality.

VR: Virtual reality uses computer modelling and simulation to create an artificial three-dimensional (3D) visual or other sensory environment. Applications immerse users in a computer-generated world, simulating reality via interactive devices like headsets, goggles and gloves that send and receive information.

This undulating brick wall at Royal Hobart Hospital is one of a series of complicated bricklaying designs built quickly and accurately using Fologram’s software. Picture: supplied

Originally published as Holographs, laser beams and VR changing building sites forever