Immersive Tech can aid and enhance the way we visualize all data.

VR led design and construction reviews will help architects and construction professionals respond to the challenges posed in the post Covid 19.

- Gautam Tewari, Co-creator, SmartVizX

Trezi, India's first fully immersive product for the building industry, transforms design experience, communication and collaboration by bringing together all stakeholders within the virtual workspace to review, edit and modify a project's design in real-time, and at full scale. Launched in 2018 by SmartVizX, Trezi has now set itself apart from its competitors with its agile cloud-based functionality, virtual collaboration capabilities supported over VR Headsets and desktop systems alike. Gautam Tewari, Co-creator, Trezi talks about immersive technology platform for AEC industry. Excerpts from the interview…

Could you give us a brief on SmartVizX? What motivated you in setting up SmartVizx and also tell us about the core competencies and strengths?

Both Tithi and I, co-creators of Trezi, are architects. Through our careers, we worked with multiple international firms on large-scale design and design and build projects where we experienced challenges with design communication due to static and passive tools. These often led to dissatisfactions and discrepancies in the design process. We have seen clients complaining about differences between the end-product and the initial proposals of architects during the process of design development. Bringing all stakeholders on the same level of understanding of the project for effective design collaboration was another challenge. Therefore, to improve the process of design collaboration and facilitate quick and efficacious decision-making, Trezi came into being in 2018 under the ambit of our start-up, SmartVizX, as India's first fully immersive VR product for the building industry. It allows users to review, modify and experience 3D models of designs at full scale while facilitating collaboration for all stakeholders.

SmartVizX started with an aim to transform traditional, passive and static design visualization methodologies in the building industry. The product opportunity with Trezi emerged after almost two years of extensive services-based experience with an emerging technology like Virtual Reality.

Trezi has now set itself apart from its competitors with its agile cloud-based functionality, virtual collaboration capabilities supported over VR Headsets and desktop systems alike. A rapidly developing library of BIMObjects and VR-Ready building products of leading manufacturers has set Trezi on the path of becoming the world's first immersive platform for the building industry. Today, with a team of 35 members, Trezi is determined to advance the understanding of spatial design for all project stakeholders and improve the search and selection of products in the building and manufacturing industry.

How do you assess the scope and potential for cutting-edge technology like Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality (AR & VR) redefining the AEC industry?

Technology can definitely reduce   the inefficiencies and risks that plague the building industry. At present, only about 30% of projects are completed on time or within the allotted budget. As such, about 10% of the project value is constantly at risk. This is primarily due to poorly organized workflows and a large amount of variance caused due to individual interpretation of data. For example, an architect draws up a building plan on 2D sheets, but most people don't visualize space that way. Clients who sign off on designs presented in this format are relying on their interpretation of the drawings and the visuals to make a decision, and not basis a visualization tool that provides consistent visuals which can be comprehended uniformly by different stakeholders. Predictably, projects go through multiple iterations and adjustments, and despite best efforts, do not meet the initial vision.

Similarly, fragmentation occurs due to non-uniform interpretation of data: stakeholders, predictably, have different technical bandwidths and, as such, all will not analyse project data to come to the same conclusions. A shift in approach from data interpretation to data visualization will help eliminate this discrepancy.

Immersive Tech can aid and enhance the way we visualize all data - improving understanding, removing ambiguities and accelerating decision-making. Immersive Tech currently comprises AR (Augmented Reality) and VR (Virtual Reality) - of these, AR still has some way to go before mass adoption, while VR is closer to being used on a day-to-day basis in the AEC industry. In some ways, VR is the next logical step for visualization in construction: from paper drawings to computer drafting to 3D modelling, the next avenue is that of total immersion - stepping inside the design and experiencing each element in the virtual world.

In future, Artificial Intelligence and Predictive Analysis hold the potential to devise efficient workflows on-site, processing large amounts of data to offer the best solutions in all spheres of construction. These can include analyses of site footage to flag potential hazards, organizing data to predict project timelines, simulating complex processes to arrive at feasible ways to carry out sophisticated construction processes, etc.

Could you elaborate on Trezi? How this immersive technology product from your table helps the AEC industry?

Trezi - India's first fully immersive product for the building industry- transforms design experience, communication and collaboration by bringing together all stakeholders within the virtual workspace to review, edit and modify a project's design in real-time, and at full scale. Using Trezi, all project members can collaborate on a project together - whether within the immersive environment using HMDs, or through desktop systems - to enable faster and better decision-making, and ultimately greater business impact and profitability.

Trezi is connecting the design community with building product manufacturers through integrated product catalogues and enhanced capabilities for material and product customization within the virtual workspace - all supported via cloud connectivity. This, essentially, allows users to access products via virtual storefronts, allowing them to do away with the need to conduct physical meetings and on-site prototyping. On a larger scale, this will also help the real estate sector stay afloat, by providing buyers with the opportunity to view potential properties within VR and make informed decisions about their investment.

Being a pioneer in VR content creating for the AEC industry, what do you think are the major challenges in faster and deeper adoption of these technologies in the AEC space in terms of capital, cost, awareness level, etc?

Tech adoption remains a perennial challenge in the building industry, within India and worldwide; as Darren Bechtel, the founder of Brick & Mortar Ventures (a venture capital fund focused on emerging technologies for the building industry) points out, “The AEC space is one of the last massive industries to be disrupted.” The usual Indian mindset tends to be complacent towards technology. We don't accept change too readily, this has been the case with VR as well - people do not fully understand it, as they may have never fully experienced it.

As an India-based start-up, we must also contend with taxation structures, incorporation delays and other funding-related problems. Another significant challenge that we face is in the area of establishing appropriate sales processes for an experiential product while keeping customer acquisition costs manageable.

What contributory role these technology solutions can play in revolutionizing Green/Smart Construction?

The current scenario relies on physical mock-ups and on-site prototyping to gain a close approximation of the end product. These are time-intensive, resource-heavy, and require extensive back and forth between the building team and the suppliers. This not only extends the project timeline but also restricts the building team in terms of choice - whether of the material (by physical proximity) or by the manufacturer (by acquaintanceship). Without reliable means to test out possible design, material or product options, building teams cannot possibly expand their scope without running the risk of delays and errors, which causes resources at hand to go underutilized.

By integrating immersive technology, stakeholders can step into the virtual world and experience, review and modify a project's design in real time, including browsing actual product catalogues within the virtual workspace and testing samples therein. Through the use of collaborative tech, a considerable amount of material for samples and mock-ups can be saved worldwide across ever-increasing distances, the environmental burden of such a high volume of material movement notwithstanding. The enhanced understanding of design also enables better decision-making and greater participation from all stakeholders. The agility of VR, in particular, holds the key to reducing costs immensely by doing away with errors, omissions and miscommunication of design intent.

What are the steps initiated by SmartVizX to spread awareness?

Our vision is to make state-of-the-art VR technology that assures precision and efficiency in the AEC workflows available to everyone at most affordable prices. To create more awareness about its merits we are making it more accessible to all - both students and professionals alike. We are extending value-adding experience through various pricing options convenient for customers. New users receive training support for easy and quick understanding of the product. We offer a fully-functioning desktop version of Trezi so that availability of VR devices doesn't become a hindrance in accepting this technology.

Trezi can also be a teaching tool to inculcate crucial lessons about space, proportions and scale. We have been receiving multiple demonstration queries and workshop requests from various institutions. Senior faculty members from reputed institutes like Sushant School of Art and Architecture and Pearl Academy have used Trezi to extend awareness amongst their students, and we are excited to see such institutions break-out of their traditional moulds and welcome technological innovations. We are currently curating a 15-hour digital workshop with Sushant School of Art and Architecture (SSAA) focusing on immersive technology in design disciplines.

How do you assess the challenges of availability of a highly skilled, trained and creative workforce in this area? What is the scope of these platforms as career-building options?

The VR market is expected to double from its current valuation of $45 billion to $95 billion by the year 2025. A sizable chunk of this user base is currently from the construction and real estate industries at 13% and 7%, respectively. We can expect a steady increase in adoption rates as Immersive Tech gains momentum. Data visualization is set to gain predominance over interpretation as the integration of the technology increases across user bases. I hope to also see VR becoming a standard for all construction projects with an HMD (Head Mounted Device) available at every project site to plan, foresee and troubleshoot. Perhaps, in the long run, HMDs can replace computers entirely. 

We can imagine immersive technology to be a convenience, just as a plotter in architectural offices or X-ray machines in hospitals that were rare initially but soon became a necessity, driving the efficiency in workflow.

Could you brief us on the R&D and what is the next big thing/solution you are excited about?

We are looking to address the concerns of two primary groups - architects/designers and building product manufacturers. As of today, over 50% of India's top 50 architecture firms use Trezi. In the meantime, we are building our second customer base of building product manufacturers from the ground up and helping them establish Virtual Storefronts for products and prototypes that would typically take days and weeks to transport and cost a pretty penny in an attempt to procure sales. This customer segment consists of building product manufacturers that comprise dealers and manufacturers of office furniture, home furniture, furnishings, fittings, floorings, stones, tiles, carpets, wood, ceilings, facades, sanitaryware, lighting, electrical fittings, special categories and all items that typically need physical mock-ups and catalogues.

While the world changes around us rapidly, maintaining an agile product and, by extension, an agile business model is our prime focus. We are working on our platform strategy which will make the entire offering more interesting and diverse. More third-party app developers can come in and create content on top of our SDKs, listing platforms, and websites can get integrated; we can provide useful data and analytics to our customers and charge for transactions once they start taking shape. Moving forward, we also aim to grow our sales through distributors and channel partners in various geographies like MENA, US and South East Asia.

How do you foresee the future trends in disruptive technologies redefining the AEC space?

Virtual Reality is the future of the AEC industry as it provides a radically improved spatial understanding, generating an appealing virtual experience for all before it is built, enabling seamless collaboration. Virtual Reality in construction is revolutionizing the way we work and is here to stay. It is adding immense value  to the way we work and construct, by allowing greater optimization at all levels by effectively predicting all requirements and minimizing  wastage. We actually are at a point of inflection in terms of design technology. The next big design tech wave will be all about immersive computing that adds more precision and efficiency in workflows.

VR-led 3D modelling also ensures the migration of a collaborative environment to the cloud enabling multiple stakeholders placed across different geographies to work on a single fundamental and iterative design block, creating a true virtual meeting platform for AEC stakeholders. This technology can certainly bring the world closer where each AEC professional can offer and exchange their services across the globe. It can minimize the time invested in seeking reviews and collaborations while maximizing our capacity to deliver the required output.

Most importantly, VR led design and construction reviews will help architects and construction professionals respond to the challenges posed in the post Covid 19 world where work from home, remote teamwork and digital twins are going to be a part of our reality.

Efforts are being invested in including features that activate not just visual but other sensory functions too. Currently, we are working with products that have acoustic considerations. We are exploring sound-based computation and lighting-based computation. Soon, we will be able to resolve issues around sound and lighting. And probably even ‘touch' in the near future.

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