ZHVR Immersion Platform
12 December 2024The ZHVR Immersion Platform offers an immersive tool for communicating spatial design and architecture, both in-house and in client-facing presentations. [DZ1] It is a real-time, 3-dimensional visualisation and walk-through platform that can be adapted for all ZHA projects regardless of scope, with customisable options for design evaluation, rapid decision-making, and marketing presentations. Each project becomes a standalone app, with features such as real-time toggling of materials, design elements, and animated components, geographically accurate daylight simulation, and seamless operation across devices without requiring high-end local hardware.
The ZHVR Immersion Platform enables user-driven navigation of interactive spaces, allowing users to experience architecture in first person and in high fidelity. Within this 360-degree-of-freedom (360° DOF) dynamic environment, users can review project details by comparing design options such as material selection or architectural geometry. The interactive walkthroughs allow users to engage more deeply with the design’s nuances and gain experiential insights. Depending on the project’s development stage, the design can be showcased in varying levels of abstraction and resolution, from grayscale to full materiality, and with a wide range of lighting display options. The architectural design can be presented within high-definition contextual surroundings and populated with animated figures (NPCs), enabling users to assess scale and use of spaces, vistas, supply routes, traffic, and planning-related aspects. Metadata and engineering input, such as calculation and simulation results, can also be added to the simulation.
The core value proposition of the ZHVR Immersion Platform is its ability to streamline the design evaluation process within ZHA, working closely with the design and development teams. By offering near-instant, real-time visualisation, the platform enables more accurate project assessment, leading to faster decision-making and revisions, while maintaining a track record of the project development. It is a time-critical tool in the architectural workflow at Zaha Hadid Architects, promoting cross-disciplinary collaboration and improving communication throughout the design stages.
When embedded into the client’s Marketing, PR, and Sales efforts, the platform extends its utility beyond the design process. Its ability to create realistic and compelling visuals makes it an ideal tool for public relations and client presentations, showcasing project progress and design concepts in an engaging manner. Beyond the platform’s immediate role in design and marketing, it can also provide the foundation for a digital twin in post-launch operational use, connected to live IoT systems and sensorics. This exclusive service is provided only for projects developed by Zaha Hadid Architects, bridging the gap between cutting-edge design technology and operational needs, and ensuring that projects maintain their integrity from concept through to occupancy.
KEY FEATURES & FUNCTIONS
Lobby Space: A customised space featuring a small-scale model of the building and its context, along with relevant visual media—ideal for stakeholder discussions prior to walkthrough exploration.
Bookmarks for Navigation: Pre-saved virtual camera locations, presented as clickable thumbnails, allowing users to easily navigate key building locations and viewpoints.
Camera Functions:
First-person view: Default walkthrough exploration mode.
Flying mode: Enables aerial perspectives and close-up inspection of building elements at elevation, e.g. detailed exploration of rooflines, façades, and hard-to-reach areas.
Virtual camera mode: Used to capture hi-res screenshots for export, aiding design documentation, communication, and coordination.
Architectural Design Assets: Project geometry is presented in full-resolution photorealistic quality, with options for greyscale materials and varying degrees of transparency. May include 3D specialist inputs from disciplines like urban planning, structural, and MEP engineering for evaluation and integration.
Design Options: Easily switch between design variations (e.g. different columns, floor layouts, etc.) for comparison in any view.
Animated Features: Dynamic features like water, sliding doors, elevators, escalators, changing lighting, and other environmental effects deliver a heightened sense of scale, temporality, and atmospherics.
Metadata & Abstract Diagrammatic Content: Representation of abstract content such as markers, labels, documentation, animated diagrams and simulations.
Social Performance & Human Scale: Load NPCs (animated figures, cars) to showcase building occupancy and surroundings. While crowd simulations assist in assessing occupancy loads, enactments of use, simulating specific social and cultural functions, helps clients visualise the real spaces.
Lighting:
Daylight with geolocation: Simulating shading, glare, façade exposure, and sunlight for any view. Select any date and time to visualise sun angles, shadow projections, and switch between real-time day cycles or night scenes.
Artificial lighting: Customised lighting schemes developed with the designer and/or consultant.
Sound: Project-specific spatial sound, both ambient and localised, contributing to the immersiveness of the scene. Additionally, scientific auralisations can be brought in to demonstrate space performance characteristics.
Delivery: Pixel streaming or using high-powered edge computing hardware
Production: Timelines are on average, 2-3 weeks for the initial import. Bespoke features will be developed on a per-project basis.
Cost: All costs are embedded within the architectural services. Applications used outside architectural development will be charged separately.