VIATechnik’s Pre-Construction Services: A Case Study on Virtual Reality, VDC, & Estimating

At VIATechnik, our Pre-Construction Services “help our clients Bid More and Win More.” Through a collaborative team approach, VIATechnik has enabled construction firms around the country to increase their estimating bandwidth, impress the owners and developers, and allow for better planning prior to construction.

This case study of a new construction condo building project in New York City, comprised of 6 stories of condos above 2 stories of retail and commercial-space, highlights how VIATechnik’s expert estimating and virtual construction capabilities help our clients take their project pursuits to the next level – visualization, planning, and problem-solving in a virtual environment prior to breaking ground.

Quantity Take-Offs

VIATechnik partnered with a general contractor who needed quantity take-offs to augment their in-house resources. VIATechnik’s EstimatingTeam+ stepped up to the challenge on this high-end condo building located on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Utilizing On-Screen Take-Off, VIATechnik provided complete quantity take-offs for all Architectural, Structural, and MEP trades with detail, accuracy and speed. The client was impressed by the collaborative approach we took, truly becoming one team during bid time.

Virtual Reality

VIATechnik is pushing the limits of construction technology, by integrating our 3D BIMs with Gaming Technology to empower our clients to make faster decisions and to give project stakeholders insights prior to construction. This rendered 3D model, which can be integrated with the Oculus Rift Virtual Reality Headset, allows anyone to walk through a condo unit and truly immerse themselves in the environment before construction has even started. This translates into faster condo leasing, better marketing presence in the community, and a more engaged design/construction/developer team.

You can view the model here. Note a web viewer will be needed to experience this 3D model in your browser. Some interesting features embedded in our virtual reality program include:

• The map icon in the top right corner, allowing users to better understand where in the project they are
• Click through feature on Architectural finishes, enabling users to change paint colors, wood floor finishes, and more to customize their condo and get a better insight of what their life would be like as the condo owner
• Realistic city views from the windows. VIATechnik’s engineers brought in the true project location from Infraworks 360, to replicate the views that the resident would see from this particular condo unit.

Infraworks 360 Site Modeling

For many construction projects, understanding and coordinating with the existing environment is crucial to a project’s success. Through Infraworks 360, VIATechnik creates a detailed site model of the project’s location, bringing in adjacent buildings, infrastructure, and ground topographies. The 3D model of the total project site is immediately valuable from a visualization perspective, but the real value comes from streamlining logistics planning and understanding of the project’s interaction with the existing environment. For example, traffic flows, deliveries, and equipment moves can be coordinated with the existing roadways and adjacent structures in mind. The team can also foresee how construction phasing and staging will affect the project’s surroundings.

Visual Renderings

VIATechnik’s renderings during the design and pre-construction phase not only give AEC firms the ability to visualize the project prior to construction, but also engage the community and encourage the support of all project stakeholders. Our expertise ranges across a variety of platforms from Sketchup, to 3ds Max, and Lumion. For this particular rendering, VIATechnik first created a Revit model from the designer’s 2D plans, and then rendered it in 3ds Max.