Innovation & Technology

Technology is an integral part of our design process. We’re incredibly excited about virtual reality and are investing in it for our future. Our in-house HTC VIVE VR headsets bring our designs to life, allowing us and our clients to fully experience these new places and spaces and make informed decisions early on.

Another essential element is BIM – it’s the best, most efficient way to coordinate with consultants and contractors. That’s why we use it from feasibility onwards on all projects.

VR BENEFITS FOR CLIENTS AND END-USERS

In-depth visualisation

Clients, buyers, tenants, and other stakeholders can see the designer’s vision in a much more immediate way with VR. It is hard, naturally, for other people to clearly picture a designer’s vision from drawings or on-screen models – even from 3D models. Experiencing the design from within, in the level of detail that the cutting edge of VR technology allows, can, by contrast, provoke a visceral engagement with the design. It is not unknown for clients to feel emotional when first seeing their scheme in this way. It also allows them to engage with the designer in greater detail, and to guide the design process more closely towards their desired result.

Accelerates the process

For reasons already mentioned, massive time and cost savings are available as a result of the availability of much-improved visualisation at an early stage. This potentially offers the client the opportunity for increased profits or the ability to sell/rent more competitively. The detailed design efficiencies achieved can also lead to savings, such as in operating costs and in avoiding later correction work. The benefits of a speedier delivery also spread to tenants, buyers, consumers and others.

Transforms the sale of off-plan property

The availability of immersive virtual walk-throughs for building projects means that developers who sell off-plan can showcase their products in an unprecedented way, making it easier to instil confidence in potential customers. Potential buyers now have the ability to virtually envisage how buildings will come to look and feel in reality, giving them more information when choosing whether to go ahead. Multiple design, colour and furniture options can all be experienced interactively within the virtual world, leading to more decisive choices, saving time and providing greater certainty for all.

MDP + Partners has invested in state-of-the-art Desktop Virtual Reality (VR) technology to add to its existing VR capabilities. Our HTC Vive VR technology gives our designers and clients the opportunity to experience the projects they are working on in a completely immersive way, even before construction has begun. Clients who have used our technology to explore our BIM models virtually have spoken about how it made the design easily accessible to them, allowing them to perceive their projects in a new light. We are already using Mobile VR technology, and we are also exploring Augmented/Mixed Reality technology to assess its benefits for our design teams and clients.