Xella brought the BIM model to the construction site. Mixed reality technology allows you to combine a 3D model with a real building under construction.
On June 6, 2019, Xella presented the Hololens mixed reality helmet for the first time in Russia for visual control of construction and installation works in accordance with the project.
According to the company, the positioning accuracy of building structures using Hololens is 1-3 mm, and the radius of the controlled field of view reaches 100-200 m. Tendelow.
“BIM design is used by many companies today, but the entire modeling process takes place in the offices of architects and designers. Construction site practitioners continue to rely on 2D documentation, which is not as accurate and detailed as the original model and is not always up to date. Our task was to bring BIM directly to the construction site, eliminating an unnecessary link in the information transmission chain, improving the quality of work and reducing the number of errors. The solution, developed on the basis of a device created by Microsoft, allows you to be present in two dimensions simultaneously: on a real construction site and inside a virtual building model,”explains the head of digital at Xella.
According to a company representative, the 3D model displayed by the device is actually a building assembly instruction. High positioning accuracy is provided by five built-in cameras and a GPS navigator. The BIM model is loaded into the helmet from the cloud in real time, so all changes made by architects and designers are instantly displayed in a virtual projection. On the other hand, any adjustments made on site are also instantly captured in the main BIM model.
To link a specialist to a specific point of view inside a building under construction, his floors and key elements are marked with QR codes. The system automatically recognizes them and loads the corresponding fragment of the model. You can use gestures to control the menu, move and change the scale of the object. Navigation, zooming and menu control are performed using gestures that are recognized by the helmet's sensitive cameras.
At the moment, the solution developed by Xella allows high-precision modeling of masonry from the YTONG aerated concrete blocks produced by the company. However, the technology has no restrictions and allows loading any project details for which the necessary libraries have been developed. Data exchange takes place using the cross-platform ICF format.
“We spied on this solution at a Spanish university, where a similar technology is used to train future cardiac surgeons to conduct heart operations. In principle, technology allows any idea to be realized: you are limited only by the framework of your imagination. For example, you can control not only the positioning of building structures, but also the level of workers' access to certain operations. You just need to provide each employee with a QR code and record the results of the briefing in the system. Hololens is the all-seeing eye on the construction site,”says Michael Van Tendelow.
“We were very impressed with the possibilities offered by the solution presented. Its application allows to raise the author's supervision over the construction of buildings to a qualitatively new level. I think the technology will be of interest to many companies and specialists, therefore it deserves to be widely represented in Russia,”said Eva Orlova, head of the architectural support of projects at the Academy of Development.
Representatives of the Belgian development company DCA, Tine Torfs and Bart Sneyers, spoke about the practical application of Hololens and other Xella BIM services. The specialists also shared their experience of using BIM technologies to optimize business processes, reduce construction costs and reduce the number of customer complaints. Material provided by the press service of Xella Russia
