Building Simplification - A fabrication method based on Augmented Reality

Abstract

Digital design techniques have improved significantly to enable designers to design with fewer limitations. However, the construction methods to fabricate these design proposals are still lagging behind due to a lack of skilled labour, material constraints, and the effects of gravity. Augmented reality has been developed in recent years, and this allows users to impose 3D virtual objects onto the real world. This essay will thus discuss whether augmented reality can guide unskilled labourers to complete complex work, thus overcoming one of the constraints on fabrication for complicated construction. This essay covers the results of three augmented reality tests using a Kinect device, a projector, and Microsoft HoloLens. It aims to show that augmented reality can indeed be used to guide unskilled labourers during construction to narrow the gap between complex design methods and basic construction techniques. The results indicate that augmented reality can guide such fabrication and thus improve construction methods.