Development of a Three-Dimensional Simulation System Capable of Giving a Simulated Experience of the Interior of a Completed Building Before its Construction Begins
—Forming a consensus while experiencing the sense of the volume and the field and range of vision in interior space at the design stage—

February 2, 2012
Takenaka Corporation

Takenaka Corporation (President: Toichi Takenaka) has developed a simulation system permitting a client to experience the view of the interior of a building as virtual reality (VR) at the design stage of the building by projecting three-dimensional object CAD (below “BIM”) data on a dome-shaped visual simulator, visiMax® (developed by Takenaka Corp.). Users can use a controller to move freely through the inside of a virtual building to examine its details, so that even before construction of the building has started, they can experience the sensation of entering its interior just as if it has been completed. This allows them to more concretely imagine ceiling heights, size of spaces, and visibility of details, etc. which are elements difficult to imagine simply looking at flat design drawings or a display of a 3D model on a PC screen.
Preparing optional proposals in advance allows users to change and compare the shapes of columns or beams, material quality or color of the walls or floor etc. in real time, allowing the builder to customize the building by confirming the image held by the client at the design stage.

＜Exterior view of visiMax＞

＜During virtual experience＞

Now adopted for about ten projects, a visiMax® installed inside a Takenaka Corp. building (Toyocho-INTES, 2-5-14 Minamisuna, Koto-ku) is used to form a consensus with a client regarding the ordered building at all stages, first at its initial design stage, then through the working design stage and the execution, ending just before completion. Later the range of uses of the system will be expanded to include its application to collaborative designs where joint designers have received an order from the working design which increases the concreteness of the basic design.

※ BIM (Building Information Modeling)
It is a building process which constructs an integrated virtual model of a building in three dimensions by linking all types of information necessary for a building: design including the exterior appearance and interior finishing, the structure, electrical equipment, air-conditioning equipment, steel frame, reinforcement arrangement, forms etc., based on three-dimensional object CAD. It adds three-dimensional data required from the basic planning through the basic design, detailed design, execution and building management stages, letting concerned persons share and use the three-dimensional model as they revise it.

Characteristics

■Before starting construction, permits the experience of entering a virtual building to experience the breadth of its space

Combining BIM data with visiMax® lets a user experience the feeling of actually entering the building after completion to create a concrete image of the breadth of its spaces or the height of ceilings.

■Allows customizing to fit the client’s image in every detail before completion

The client can confirm the shapes of columns and beams, and the qualities and texture of wall materials and flooring, etc. in detail based on VR images before completion of the building, so that it can be customized when the image does not match the client’s desires. Before completion, the client can experience many options, so that the building is completed as close as possible to the client’s image.

■Permits a VR experience of the completed image, simply by making simple slight adjustments

Combining BIM data with visiMax® lets users experience the feeling of entering the building after it is completed, allowing them to form a concrete image of the feeling of breadth of the space, height of its ceilings, and so on.

Regarding visiMax®

The system was developed by Takenaka Corporation in 2001. It is a simulator equipped with a function that performs simple processing of visual data to project a high-resolution image on a dome shaped screen with a wide range of vision that fully covers a person’s field of vision, thereby creating a feeling of the depth of rooms and the breadth of the prospect in a three-dimensional space. It can project not only visual data, but also BIM data.

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