Case digitalo – a range of virtual and augmented reality solutions in construction application

We describe a range of Virtual and Augmented Reality (VR/AR) solutions applied during the planning and construction of VTT’s new head offices, the Digitalo (“Digital House”) in Espoo, Finland. During the building phase as well as in later evaluations 2003-2006, the various approaches used for Digitalo’s visualisation included: radiosity rendering by still images; immersive virtual reality visualisation; mobile outdoors augmenting; augmented scale model; augmented web camera; 3D landscapes; and interior design by means of virtual and augmented reality. We employed various display devices ranging from HMD video glasses to CAVE screens, and from PDA’s to varying kinds of PC solutions. Some of our solutions, for example the augmented web camera and scale model systems, have not been previously presented and they appear here for the first time. Also, we describe the current status of the applied methods, as well as directions for future research. Altogether, we believe this case study to be among the most comprehensive ones in the world to include such a wide variety VR/AR techniques applied in a single building project.