During the Capital Facilities Division’s annual picnic, Administrative Assistant Victoria Boyd and Project Manager Matt Doyle watch as Project Engineer Nikolai Dubynin views a hologram of a wastewater treatment facility through Microsoft’s HoloLens. After developing and approving administrative procedures allowing construction-management-at-risk project delivery, Fairfax County retained a contractor that’s using the technology to virtually eliminate change orders during water and wastewater facility construction. The goggles are a wearable computer that imposes high-definition holograms (think Pokemon Go) onto the wearer’s surroundings.
After importing a 3D rendering of the ultraviolet (UV) disinfection facility’s filter room into Autodesk’s Revit building information model (BIM) software, the model was uploaded into HoloLens. Wastewater Design and Construction Division Project Manager Matt Doyle and Project Engineer Jennifer Arias see a 3D model that helps them understand how pipes, pumps, valves, and other components will fit into the building before it’s built.
The team tried Occulus Rift virtual reality glasses first, but the totally immersive experience made some members dizzy or nauseous. Here, Wastewater Design and Construction Division Project Manager Matt Doyle and Project Engineer Jennifer Arias walk through 3D plans projected at scale in the public works building’s lobby. After touring the plant using the goggles, operators suggested tweaks that won’t have to be fixed during construction. Construction-management-at-risk combined with this wearable technology is expected to shave a year off construction.