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1. Virtual Environments for the AEC sector – The Divercity experiencePer ChristianssonAalborg University, Aalborg, Denmarkhttp://it.civil.auc.dk/Laurent Da DaltoCS SI, Toulouse, FranceJens Ove SkjaerbaekCOWI A/S, Aalborg, DenmarkS. Soubra & M. MaracheCSTB, Sophia Antipolis, FranceECCPM. Portoroz, Slovenia. 9-11 Sept. 2002

2. - Participants - Goals - Working methodology - Results and findngs CONTENT

3. Distributed Virtual Workspace for enhancing Communication within the Construction Industry - DIVERCITY PARTNERS

4. - Shared cost RTD project - Key Action II.2.2 (New Methods of Work / Workplace Design / Team Work) - Started in March 2000 - Expected duration: 30 months - Total cost: 4 M Euro (app.) - Commission funding: 2 M Euro - Consortium (10 partners - 5 countries): - Objective : Design & Develop a Distributed Virtual Workspace adapted for the Construction Industry DIVERCITY project data Developer User Contstruct IT (Coordinator) CSTB CS SISPIE Aalborg University COWI VTTEVATA CRS4 University of Salford

5. DIVERCITY project infrastructure

6. 1/2 • - To improve the process of building design and construction by enabling stakeholders (clients, architects, engineers, contractors, sub-contractors) to operate more efficiently and with better interaction • - Research and Develop a Distributed Virtual Workspace that: • Supports Continuous Design between different phases of the process (and different technical domains) by using a Model Driven (integrated) approach • Allows multi-disciplinary project team members to share the same view about the project through a Visual representation • Supports Collaboration between geographically distant sites DIVERCITY GOALS

7. 2/2 - bring important added value by integrating, into one seamless environment, recent breakthroughs in different (and for the moment separate) technological domains (global illumination simulation, multiresolution techniques, constraint based modelling, acoustics simulation, etc.) DIVERCITY aims to develop a "shared virtual construction workspace" that will allow construction companies to conduct client briefing, design reviews, simulate what if scenarios, test constructability of buildings, communicate and co-ordinate design activities between teams. Both synchronous and asynchronous interaction will be emphasised in this software framework. DIVERCITY GOALS

8. 1/3 - Complexity due to a high number of mostly small, and usually geographically distant, companies working on one single project - A major industrial sector in Europé (7% of working population + 14% indirect jobs in related sectors) - Stakeholders (clients, architects, local authorities, residents, etc.) have, on the basis of 2D drawings, different and incomplete understandings of the planned construction…. - Life cycle thinking and seamless transition of information and process between life cycle phases. - Complexity due to a high number of mostly small, and usually geographically THE AEC SECTOR

9. Architect Consultant PROJECT MODEL Consultant Architect Contractor Contractor Facilities Manager Facilities Manager Sub-contractor Sub-contractor Client Construction Site Client Construction Site 2/3 - Integrated Virtual Prototyping tools can improve communication between stakeholders around a visual (and thus intuitive) 3D representation of the planned construction THE AEC SECTOR

10. 3/3 - Dramatic changes in procurement philosophies, as a result of the internet (partnering model). THE AEC SECTOR Partnering model showing the stakeholders joining a common project group with mutual goals (COWI A/S Denmark)

11. The Virtual Building Model. The virtual building contains all documentation of the building including drawings, models, documents etc. It will normally contain redundant information and temporal information describing discipline related models and sub models of the building over time.

12. Acoustics Thermal Analysis Virtual Workspace Virtual Workspace Collab. Collab. Collab. DIVERCITY Appl. DIVERCITY User Environment. Appl. Appl. DIVERCITY Data container -IFC+ Application data container Application data container Application data container Client briefing Application data container'CAD' Lighting Simulations Building Model (IFC,…) 4D building site

13. DIVERCITY - Virtual Workspace

14. 'The Virtual Workspace, VW, is the new design room designed to fit new and existing design routines. VW may well be a mixed reality environment. The VW will host all design partners from project start with different access and visibility (for persons and groups) in space and time to the project, and will promote building up shared values in projects. The VW thus acts as a communication space with project information support in adapted appearances. VW gives access to general and specific IT-tools ' DIVERCITY - Virtual Workspace definition

15. Based on this definition, the future distributed workspaces will have the following features: - The advanced administration tools for distributed personal, team, and project information repositories; - accessibility to virtual building models and collaboration environments through wireless networked workspaces and low cost virtual reality environments; - appropriate security levels for sharing the information over the inter/intranets; - process and workflow management tools to support variations in working practices between different projects; - definition and design of new ICT tools to support collaboration and communication with end-user. Divercity has created a virtual workspace for construction, which includes some of the features listed above. The details of Divercity’s Collaborative Workspace are discussed later in this handbook. Future Virtual Workspace features

16. E-viper client handles access to the workspaces and projects The Central eViper Server Source control stores different versions and keeps an history of all that happens on a project User profiling allows the server to identify people connected to, or trying to, connect to it and manage user access rights on projects. Security and integrity of informationis permanently controlled by the server. Messages management is one of the most important feature of eViper. It controls information exchanged between users and manages priorities. Thanks to this feature, developers using eViper can build not only distributed but also collaborative applications. This is an open mechanism allowing any third party to use data controlled by the server (as long as they are authorised). The Distribution Manager The distribution manager is the client (user) side of the communication layer of DIVERCITY. It can be included in an application (it in the case of Phooka, the DIVERCITY client application) or can be a stand alone application, controlling data exchange between the client and the central server. The distribution manager has been released in JAVA and C++ and it is platform-independent. In this way, developers will be able to work in their own environment. This interface provides all necessary entries to send and receive message from the server. It also provides a simple way to plug any third party application to the central server of eViper. DIVERCITY Framework DSL Data Structure Layer

17. IFC C++ generator Import Product of Model to Application SPF file CAD-Tool (ArchiCad) C++ classes Clent briefing PreCad Divercity

18. Adjacent Sound Local Sound Listener Virtual Source External Source DESIGN REVIEW APPLICATIONS (more PRODUCTS) Acoustic module Thermal analysis module Lighting module

19. B A C D - Interactive Radiosity - Visibility Graph subdivision associated with light transfer links - High shadows quality and optimised subdivision for real-time exploration (synchronous) (including object motion) DIVERCITY Design Review Lighting example

20. - VR based tools to organise and optimise the Construction site in 4D (Space and Time) DIVERCITY Construction Planning Project Model

21. A) user requirements capture, user environment design and early prototyping; B) implementation of DIVERCITY and end user alpha test (done within the DIVERCITY consortium) of basic functionality of the DIVERCITY products (applications); C) continued implementation and end user beta tests/evaluations of basic functionality of integrated framework and DIVERCITY products; D) final end user evaluation of DIVERCITY, and prototype refinement. DIVERCITY - Methodology

22. Flow, structure representing communication and co-ordination necessary to do the work (roles, responsibilities, actions / communication topics, and spaces which in Divercity are regarded as project internal or project external memories and virtual/physical spaces); • Sequence, showing the detailed work steps necessary to achieve user intents. Sequence models can reveal alternate strategies to achieve the same intent; • Artefact, showing objects created to support the work; • Culture, representing constraints on the work caused by policy, culture or values, formal and informal policy of the organisation, business climate, self-image, feelings and fears of the people in the organisation, possibility for privacy; • Physical, showing the physical structure of the work environment as it affects the work. Contextual Design Conceptual Work Models

23. Work Flow Model. Conextual Design

24. Sequence Model. Contextual Design

25. Using storyboards, the team develops the vision into a definition of how people will work in the new system and ensuring that all aspects of work captured in the work models are accounted for. Storyboard development

26. Storyboard development

27. Storyboard development

28. Detailed Storyboard

29. Contextual Design.Structure and Sequence Contextual design UML based modelling

30. Divercity is an example on a end-user co-defined developed workspace and, to our knowledge, one of the most coherent at the moment and might be the future platform for further plug-ins. The pro-active end user involvement have made significant modifications to the software architecture as well as to the individual products. The end-user involvement in the preparation and the planning of test scenarios contributed in ensuring that the VE will meet the requirements of the industry. The IFC-standard which is a core component in the Divercity framework is progressively been introduced to the Danish construction industry. At the moment COWI is participating in a test of the standard on the new head-quarters for the National Broadcasting Company (DR) COWI EXPERIENCES

31. - Applications integrated into a extendible framework. - Framework based on Internet based client-server technology ( eViper). - Methodology for efficient user requirements capture, user environment modelling and system development. DIVERCITY - RESULTS http://www.e-divercity.com

32. END

33. 1. User Requirements, Tests and Validation (82.5 months) [CIT] 2. Client Briefing Workspace Module (32 months) [USAL] 3. Design Review Module (91.4 months) [CSTB] 4. Construction Workspace Module (34.9 months) [VTT] 5. System Design and Integration (21.2 months) [CSSI] 6. Trials (30.8 months) [CIT] 7. Exploitation and Dissemination (10.5 months) [CIT] 8. Project Management (14.5 months) [CIT] DIVERCITY WPs

34. - VW is a set of interconnected design rooms that supports innovative (but also “classical”) design procedures. - Software and Hardware Infrastructure supporting the design and construction process (access to relevant visualization and communication IT-tools) DIVERCITY - Virtual Workspace 1/2

35. Immersive space Optimization module Geometry modeler Constraint manager Desktop systems Responsive Workbench Thermal analysis tool Lighting tool Acoustic tool Rendering engine DIVERCITY Framework Network Datawarehouse - structured data (IFC 2.x) - EXPRESS-based semantics

36. DIVERCITY CLIENT

37. Difficulties: 1 Ownerships and IPR issues (The knowledge and effort of the users is not rewarded) 2 How to introduce Divercity products to the industry- Divercity solutions are novel for the construction industry. impact of the collaborative environment, on real projects. 3 The challenge of conducting scientific research and at the same time producing commercial products at the end of the research. E-Locus feed-back: Divercity partners would like feedback from the other projects on: 1 The value and suitability of our technological collaborative solutions; 2 Broader input on how to improve the collaboration of virtual teams within the construction industry. THE FUTURE http://www.e-divercity.com We are all involved in a continuos change process and design of the future together (with constant re-assessments). Great possibilities and time to do some creative, bold, and holistic inceptions at both universities and industries