This study has two major purposes – (1) to investigate the situation in the building industry regarding the use of post construction knowledge and (2) to evaluate the possibilities of the use of fully immersive virtual reality for decision-making purposes at a construction client’s organization.
On the basis of the overall situation in the building industry regarding the quality of constructed buildings, an initial problem is formulated, in order to clarify, what knowledge is necessary for understanding the existing situation: What prevents the construction industry from transferring the post construction knowledge from existing buildings to the design phase of a new building?
The State of the Art presented in the thesis serves as the foundation for the development of the report. The most important variables that prevent the integration of post construction knowledge in designing new buildings are analysed, in order to enable the statement of the problem dealt with in this study: How can immersive 3D tools help to provide tacit knowledge during the decision-making process in an organization oriented towards state of the art IT solution integration?
A case study is presented and analysed, in order to facilitate the solution of the problem stated previously. Finally, areas, which the proposed integration of immersive virtual reality tools would have an impact on, are specified and elaborated. The technological processes AAB would have to go through are described and best practices are suggested.
The thesis concludes with the observation of the authors that in the current stage of technological development immersive 3D might not be the most helpful tool in decision making during tender procedures in AAB, due to their small-scale projects. However, the tool might prove very useful in other instances within the same organization, such as communication with tenants, where AAB would gain the chance to use virtual reality as a highly effective presentation tool, where decisions regarding renovation projects can be made and the consequences of these decisions can be instantly presented to the interested parties. Nevertheless, the authors are of the opinion that virtual reality shall become an important part of the future of AECO industry and shall be used across different disciplines and sectors in near future.