Immersive technology - a transformation of our workplace?

摘要

As the level of functionality develops, the potential for this technology is clearly huge. But, as these examples have illustrated, it has already moved beyond a novelty and marketing talking point to something that is beginning to revolutionise our workplace. As with all of these tools - from parametric design to software interoperability and "big data" BIM - they are still a means to an end. Ultimately, they are making us, as engineers and designers, more efficient at communicating and at producing our deliverables. However, the future seems clear. Embracing these new technologies is bringing our industry forward in leaps and bounds, not only in how we design and communicate, but in how those designs are built, operated, maintained and experienced by the user. The communication skills that we use as engineers are changing. Engineers have traditionally been taught to draw, and not taught to model or sculpt. However, modelling geometry in a 3D environment, understanding basic additive and subtractive methods, as well as more complex geometry definition, are an increasingly important part of our education process. The employment of software engineers or, better still, structural engineers who are already proficient at programming and scripting, will be another big change for many design offices over the next few years. But this should be seen as a positive change, and a way of attracting the brightest and best to an industry which is still seen as falling behind others in terms of how technology is implemented.