Teachers tour new school through virtual reality – Houston Chronicle

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Brad Smith, the HSPVA orchestra director, said after using VR, he began to imagine what he'll be able to do once the building opens next winter.

Brad Smith, the HSPVA orchestra director, said after using VR, he began to imagine what he'll be able to do once the building opens next winter.

Houston ISD physics teacher Eastman Landry explores a virtual model of the new High School for the Visual and Performing Arts campus presented by McCarthy Building Cos. on Friday, May 12, 2017.

Houston ISD physics teacher Eastman Landry explores a virtual model of the new High School for the Visual and Performing Arts campus presented by McCarthy Building Cos. on Friday, May 12, 2017.

McCarthy Building Cos. presents a virtual reality model of a new Houston ISD school to teachers on Friday, May 12, 2017.

McCarthy Building Cos. presents a virtual reality model of a new Houston ISD school to teachers on Friday, May 12, 2017.

A teacher sees a virtual reality image of the new High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, presented by McCarthy Building Cos.

A teacher sees a virtual reality image of the new High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, presented by McCarthy Building Cos.

Houston ISD orchestra conductor Brad Smith explores a virtual reality model of the new High School for the Visual and Performing Arts on Friday, May 12, 2017.

Houston ISD orchestra conductor Brad Smith explores a virtual reality model of the new High School for the Visual and Performing Arts on Friday, May 12, 2017.

Teachers tour new school through virtual reality

Building plans for large facilities, complex schematics chalked with dotted lines on blueprint, convey little about the planned space to anyone but expert designers.

It wasn't so on Friday, when Houston public school teachers donned HTC Vive virtual reality headsets and chuckled with awe as they stepped inside the digital plans for a new flagship campus in downtown. This is one example of how revolutionary technology is making changes in construction and real estate.

McCarthy Building Cos., construction manager for the new High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, set up shop at the school's current location to showcase their plans. Principal R. Scott Allen called teachers forward and asked the technicians to guide the science instructor to the third floor's northwest corner and walk the social studies teacher to the library on the fourth floor.

A man on a laptop took them there with a few keystrokes as the teachers, goggles strapped to their faces, looked up and down and around the space they'll move in to next winter. A technician with an Xbox controller steered them down the hallways.

"We've looked at lots of plans over the last several years," said Brad Smith, the HSPVA orchestra director. "For some of us, it's hard to look at an architectural drawing on paper and turn it into a space."

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Once he experienced the space, Smith began to imagine what he'll be able to do once the building opens next winter: add a chamber music class or bring a full chorus to perform with his orchestra on stage.

Others pointed out some minor tweaks.

Dance teacher Courtney Jones said the ballet bars should not be mounted to the floor, as they were in the model, so that mobile lighting could be set up for performances.

Physics teacher Eastman Landry suggested adding a few more sinks in the back of a lab.

"The VR system really allows people who are not design and construction experts to be involved in decision making," said Chris Patton, senior manager of virtual design and construction with McCarthy, which started using VR on a flat screen in 2013 and debuted the headset in 2016.

Medical facilities

On some projects, a hospital operating room, for example, VR technology can help fine-tune facilities that make the difference between life and death.

Medical facilities are among McCarthy's specialties. In Houston it is building two expansions of MD Anderson Cancer Center facilities and a new building for Texas Children's Hospital. Physicians often need to make inch-by-inch adjustments to the locations of gas ports or other hardware before spaces like that are constructed.

Previously, companies like McCarthy made those adjustments by building costly full-scale mock-ups and bringing in clients to tweak the design.

"You're building almost a full working operating room," Patton said. "The VR solution provides huge cost savings."

It's had similar effects elsewhere in the industry. McCarthy senior project manager Wesley Mancrief recalled that at the first annual tech committee conference of the Associated General Contractors of America, held in 2016, the keynote address was devoted to virtual reality and its changes in the industry.

As big as the iPhone?

"A lot of people in this industry are likening it to the advent of the iPhone," said Jamie Fleming, a Seattle-based architect by training who started Studio216, a company that develops virtual reality media for the real estate business.

One client used VR to exhibit a 20,000-square-foot mansion in the Pacific Northwest to prospective buyers in China, who wouldn't have crossed the ocean for a showing.

"They believe they will sell this home without the buyer ever setting foot in the building, and I think that is really a trend," he said.

In the market for luxury apartments, clients can experiment with changing wall colors, appliances or counter top materials, or tour different unit designs without ever leaving the leasing office.

Fleming said VR has been used to pitch designs for big projects, like convention centers or industrial buildings, allowing investors or clients to see exactly how their money will be spent.

But there's more to the digital display than sleek looks. These are the actual building plans, and subcontractors will use them to coordinate their efforts.

Hidden layers

The model displayed contains hidden layers, like structural elements or electrical systems in the walls.

The ventilation system, for example, was designed by the subcontractor in charge of ventilation and then imported into the model. McCarthy lays out the concrete design, and all the other pieces fit within.

The model requires about 50 gigabytes of memory to run through the headset, about the equivalent of streaming 300 hours of video.

For most of the teachers present, Friday was their first time using a VR headset, and some giggled at the dreamlike quality of the experience. All said it got them excited and planning for their move into the five-story campus.

"To actually step into the room and see that space, that really helps," Landry said.

And when the model allowed him to fall off a catwalk, he suggested the space include a handrail.

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Teachers tour new school through virtual reality - Houston Chronicle