How Microsoft’s Hololens could Change the AEC Industry

Okay, seriously Microsoft? We just finished a series on Virtual Reality in the AEC Industry, and literally weeks later, you reveal your newest project which deals in Augmented Reality. What even is Augmented Reality? Are we talking the Danger Room in X-Men, or more Tony Stark’s workshop in Iron Man?

Turns out the Hololens is something of a combination of both. In the simplest terms, the Hololens projects holograms onto the real world that you can interact with. Hence the term “augmented” reality; you still interact with the real world in the Hololens, but virtual elements can be integrated in various ways. No longer is there such a drastic separation between cyberspace and physical reality. With the Hololens, cyberspace is present in the physical world, and thus has the potential to enhance the way we interact with both spaces.

There is no mouse, no keyboard and no desktop for the Hololens. It is designed to interact with the real world, to create a minecraft landscape in your living room, or to construct 3D protoypes of future projects. On their website, Microsoft says “We envisioned a world where technology could become more personal — where it could adapt to the natural ways we communicate, learn, and create. Where our digital lives would seamlessly connect with real life… High-definition holograms integrated with your real world will unlock all-new ways to create, communicate, work, and play.” We believe them. Want to know more? Check out the video Microsoft launched to introduce the Hololens.

Now, back to the title of this piece, and why we’re reporting on the Hololens on an AEC media site. The way Microsoft presents the Hololens is very clever — while some might be tempted to compare the Hololens to Google Glass, in their marketing Microsoft clearly differentiates their product. Although not necessarily intentionally, the marketing for Google Glass made it seem like more of a cool gadget or fashion accessory, something the rich can buy almost solely for the sake of having it. Realistically, what function did Google Glass serve that your smart phone couldn’t do itself?

How is that a sheep? Can someone tell me?

Microsoft’s Hololens is very different. It is not something you wear while walking down the street — it is designed to solve a specific problem or meet a certain desire in its users life. Microsoft does a great job of showing consumers how the Hololens could improve their lives. Do you work in design? Well, why not experiment with holograms on your physical model? Do you need help fixing something, or finding something? The Hololens can walk you through the process. Want to see little square white boxes that Minecraft has the gall to call sheep roaming around your living room? Oddly specific desire, but, okay, the Hololens can do that too. Our point is, Microsoft’s marketing makes it easy for people to imagine uses for the Hololens in their individual lives. It is somehow specific enough, yet diverse enough to invite both professionals and the public at large to imagine ways it could improve their average day-to-day.

So, lets explore a few ways we at Builtr imagine the Hololens could change and improve the AEC industry…

3D Designs and Prototypes

Imagine walking around a table, looking at a 3D model of a building that is being designed. You can look at it from every angle, but perhaps more importantly, you can change anything you want about it with a single gesture or voice command. You want a closer look at the front entrance? Then you can make the model bigger. Want to see what different colors would look like? Simply specify that to the Hololens. Want to collaborate on building design? You could actually construct the model using holograms in the physical world. Microsoft uses the example of building toys in their example, but it’s not hard to imagine that man constructing a building instead of a rocket ship.

P.S. The design created in the hololens can then be sent to a 3D printer and actually physically created.

Consumer/Co-worker Communication and Collaboration

Okay, so you’ve decided you want to build the 3D models using holograms, but your client lives halfway around the world and a freak blizzard has dropped two feet of snow on your city and no one is going to be able to get in or out of it until May. Whatever can you do? If you bring in your client through hololens, they can see what you see, and even make changes and suggestions. The same is true when you want to walkthrough the building while it’s being constructed. Bring along your Hololens, and it will be like you and your client are in the same place.

3D Live Overlays and Edits

Right, you’re on your way, and now the building is being constructed. But then your client calls, asking to change the dimensions of a few of the rooms. You can pin holograms to the walls that need to be changed, or even create holograms to show where the new walls are supposed to be. Any changes that happen during the construction process can be tested by using holograms on the site first. Microsoft’s example is a woman designing a motorcycle, but why couldn’t that be used in construction, landscape, interior and exterior design?

Alright, there you have it. Microsoft’s Hololens and how it could improve the AEC industry. It’s gonna be… holo-some? Holo-mazing? Holver-whelming? We’ll work on it.