Mastrolembo Ventura, Silvia (2019) The role of virtual reality in digitally-enabled design review: Procedural guidelines for the effective implementation of immersive virtual environments for usability-focused analysis. PhD thesis, Politecnico di Milano, Italy.
Abstract
Research and applications related to Virtual Reality (VR) in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry are steadily increasing in number and scopes. In particular, the implementation of Immersive Virtual Environments (IVE) is experiencing a period of renewed interest since the earlier research efforts of the 2000s. This growing interest in VR systems is closely linked to the ever-increasing adoption of Building Information Modelling (BIM) processes, procedures and technologies that characterises the on-going digital transition of the industry. Within that context, previous researches show how IVE could support collaboration in design review processes through improved communication and access to information for all involved stakeholders, regardless of their technical background. Three main theoretical patterns have been identified in using immersive VR in a collaborative and usability-focused analysis: exploration from a user perspective, participation in solution-finding and feedback on a design proposal. The aim is to reduce the gap between design and operations and to deeper understand the implications of design decisions. Despite the growing interest in VR systems, procedural challenges still affect the widespread implementation of these technologies in the industry. They are primarily illustrated by instances where the lack of a clear VR-aided design review agenda, the unguided navigation of users through the virtual facility prototype, or the unstructured management of the most appropriate level of detail or realism of the VR representation - on the basis of the design phase, the objective of the review and the stakeholders involved in the meeting - can greatly affect the quality of the feedback and the overall effectiveness of the design review meeting. Moreover, motion sickness and previous user experience with VR systems also affect the result of the design review and should be taken into account. The need for addressing this type of issues in a more systematic way as a guide for the design teams when planning to use VR with other stakeholders is within the scope of this study, which aims to identify the processes, procedures and procedural considerations for implementing immersive virtual reality in design review meetings, especially when client and end-users are involved. A qualitative research strategy has been applied, which is based on building theory from case studies adopting an inductive and comparative grounded theory approach to gather, synthesise, analyse and conceptualise qualitative data. Moreover, multiple data sources were selected according to a flexible data collection strategy based on the emerging theory. As main data sources, two case studies were developed involving a representative panel of design stakeholders in the evaluation of immersive virtual reality systems in usability-focused design reviews. Results from the case studies have been extended and validated adopting semi-structured interviews with a representative panel of stakeholders. Moreover, talks with VR experts from both the academia and the industry and literature comparison were used as validation methods to sharpen research generalisability and raise the theoretical level of the contribution. The procedural guidelines for the effective implementation of immersive virtual environments in the usability-focused analysis of building projects represent the main contribution of this research. The guidelines are organised in two main sections: (1) a process map representing a session protocol, where the phases and activities of a VR-aided design review meeting are defined; (2) a framework of procedural considerations to guide the users in managing each phase of the session protocol. Filling a gap in the research, the procedural guidelines, as a systematic and comprehensive procedure, aim to maximise the role and the value of immersive virtual reality in design review meetings. They represent a valuable framework for future researchers and a reliable basis to guide practitioners in the implementation of virtu l reality systems.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Thesis advisor: | Oliveri, Elisabetta and Philp, David |
| Index terms: | level of detail, interview, proposal, user perspective, design team, strategy, prototype, usability, validation, practitioner, collaboration, qualitative research, exploration, user experience, design decision, case study, motion sickness, building information modelling, grounded theory, design stakeholder, academia, design phase, effectiveness, virtual reality, immersive virtual environment, access to information, realism, implementation |
| Subjects: | social equity, theoretical framing, professional practice, project planning, contractual arrangements, environmental resource management, practitioner, user focus, information systems, health conditions and diseases, sociology, educational institutions, professional development, performance management, management, education and knowledge transfer, design practice, modelling and simulation, technical documentation, user-centered design, virtual reality, research design and methodology, data collection methods |
| Topics: | Procurement, Sustainability, Project Management, Engineering Principles, Health and Safety, Education, Ethics, Quality Management, Stakeholder Management, Roles and Professions, Research Practice, Information Management, Business Strategy, Organizational Design, Design Practice, Digital Applications |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here