Case Sellen Construction: Using Virtual Reality to Save Time, Money and Effort in Building Projects
The cost of physical mockups can run up to a million dollars. With Varjo, it’s now possible to replace physical mockups with virtual ones.
Read how Sellen Construction saves time, money and effort throughout the entire lifecycle of a building project with VR.
Key Benefits of Varjo:
- Allow designers, engineers, contractors and everyone involved in a construction project to see it in photorealistic detail
- Make decisions earlier, cut the total lead time of projects
- Communicate the end result to clients effectively
- Remove the the need for and time used to build traditional mockups by using VR for construction
- Improve field teams’ communication and keep them safer and more prepared
Why Varjo changes the game for Sellen Construction
As Director of Emerging Technology and Innovation at Sellen Construction, Salla Palos knows well that every decision you make in architecture, engineering and construction comes with a cost – often a huge cost.
Current modelling solutions and other VR devices give you an idea of what a finished project might look like in reality, but none have come close to showing you reality before it actually exists. Until Varjo.
According to Palos, Varjo changes everything by allowing designers, engineers, contractors and everyone involved in a project to see every texture, shape and detail in human-eye resolution VR. And that saves time, money and effort throughout the entire lifecycle of a building project.
“It’s simulated reality, not virtual reality,” Palos says.
Varjo removes critical usability issues from VR
Salla Palos’s job is to seek out and look into technologies that will improve processes and workflows and increase profitability in Sellen’s construction projects. Right now, her focus is firmly on Varjo.
According to Palos, VR already plays a role in designing and engineering processes, but there are major limits to its usability.
“The biggest challenge with VR devices today is still definitely resolution. The resolution in other devices is so poor that you can’t rely on what you’re seeing,” Palos says.
Enter Varjo.
Palos has tried virtually every VR device in existence, but the first time she put on Varjo’s headset, she was floored. The image quality was so crisp that Palos says it was like she was actually in the room she was looking at.
“This is closer to simulated reality that any device I’ve ever experienced before,” she says.
“It’s simulated reality, not virtual reality.”
Pushing the whole AEC industry forward
Varjo allows you to see a project with photorealistic clarity, which supports earlier decision-making, affects the total lead time of projects and diminishes the need for and time used to build traditional mockups.
“The cost of physical mockups for commercial projects can run up to a million dollars. With Varjo, it’s now possible to replace those physical mockups with virtual ones because, as Palos says, “the technology has finally caught up.”
Add easy integration with leading 3D engines like Unity® and Unreal Engine® and the ability to tie in haptic technologies and completely calibrate all your senses, and Varjo is a tool that’s not just helping AEC professionals to make better end-products, it’s also pushing the whole industry forward with the highest-quality VR for construction.
Keeping stakeholders up to date
Varjo helps keep Sellen’s field teams safer, more prepared and better able to communicate with each other about a project. And it makes it much easier to communicate to clients and everyone involved about what the end result will be.
As Palos says, “Varjo is an amazingly powerful tool for us at Sellen.”
Revolutionizing the whole process of delivering buildings
According to Palos, Varjo’s headset is the only truly professional-grade device in existence. It’s the only device that’s capable of showcasing projects in such a photorealistic way that there’s no doubt about what you’re seeing.
“It literally shows what the final product will look like,” Palos says. “We can change anything in real-time. And Varjo changes everything.”
Looking to the future of the AEC industry, Palos sees the use of VR devices for much more than just visualizing projects and using them as rendering tools.
“My hope is that Varjo will revolutionize decision-making and the whole process of delivering buildings. That’s the future. And with the Varjo device, that future is here now.”
