Integrated Design and Construction Planning of a High-Rise Residential Building

The main issues that significantly contribute to problems and delays on construction sites are changing client's view, incomplete design information, and poor site monitoring and control. Although experienced designers and construction managers control or minimize such problems during the design stage, the complexity and amount of the information in a pre-construction project makes such a task very difficult to accomplish effectively. This paper presents an actual case study model for an integrated system which aims at presenting construction activities in 3D using virtual reality. Firstly, the technology enables construction managers to walk through the proposed building, perhaps at different construction time intervals,-giving a vivid appreciation of the whole situation. Secondly, it enables the users to interrogate the building structural elements to present its details progress, thus giving a total virtual structural view of the project. Thirdly, the design effect of any changes in the building configuration can be modeled and visualized, and the cost effect can be calculated. Finally, the system enables virtual models to be shared and, thus, facilitates collaborative global design and construction.