The Use of Disruptive Technologies in the Construction Industry: A Case Study to Compare 2D and VR Methods of Concrete Design Interpretation

The laggard integration of digital technologies in the construction industry has seen to delay the sector in realizing its potential advantages. Using Virtual reality (VR) in the construction has the capacity to augment the interpretation of structural drawings. Comparing VR using head mounted display (HMD) devices with traditional 2D drawings in identifying structural mistakes in construction drawings has been conducted with engineering students enrolled in a concrete structures course. The findings show that the HMD VR group was able to identify 40% more mistakes in comparison to the traditional group in addition to the increase in efficiency and speed of detection of five minutes. The use of VR within engineering education can potentially increase the pace of digital technology’s adaption in the construction sector.