Imagine being able to walk through your project before construction begins, without having to build model rooms or show suites. Radical Galaxy Studio is making that all possible with their team of designers, architects, and developers who are creating fully immersive virtual reality and augmented reality experiences.
Real estate developers historically used tools like renderings and model rooms for internal decision making purposes and for pre-construction sales and leasing. Virtual reality and augmented reality take renderings to the next level. While the industry is still in its early ages of adoption, the technology saves clients time and money, and is being adopted by many of the largest developers, construction companies, property managers and architects around the country.
“Virtual reality is not just a marketing tool, it has varied applications that help improve and speed up the development process,” said Matthew Shaffer, founder of Radical Galaxy Studio. “Every week saved during the development process becomes a great cost savings especially for projects with external financing.”
Virtual reality is being used throughout the development cycle. During the design phase, developers and architects can use it to get a sense of scale and make modifications to early stage plans, or to review different options instantaneously such as changing ceiling heights or room dimensions. Further along the process, developers have the ability to use virtual and augmented reality for community relations, city council meetings and shadow studies. Lastly, virtual reality is also being used for marketing purposes to either lease-up or sell a property.
“While experienced professionals can visualize unfinished projects and picture all the possibilities: new hardwood floors, contemporary furniture and the roof top deck with stunning views of Boston, the average tenant often lacks such imaginative powers,” said Shaffer. “Virtual reality allows the potential tenants to see how the building will look when completed, along with giving them the ability to switch between different design schemes until they see one of their own liking.”
Potential buyers can also be given the power to change the flooring options, back splashes, countertops, and other elements to customize the space to their own liking, thus leading to more presale opportunities. Within the virtual reality world, users can also walk freely into and out of buildings or up and down the stairs, take elevators, peek into closets, and even toggle on light switches and faucets, giving them a better sense of the space layout and allowing them to make better informed buying decisions.
The qualities of virtual reality run the spectrum from mobile VR which can be used with Google Cardboard to high end VR built-outs that use more advanced hardware like the Windows Mixed Reality platform and Oculus. The more advanced VR is very technical and complex to create, but the results are spectacular and showcase projects in a way that couldn’t otherwise be done.
Virtual reality will continue to transform the real estate business and will soon become common practice, whether it’s real estate brokers or property management companies in New England using 360 video tours integrated in virtual reality portals or developers, interior designers, architects, engineers and construction companies using more advanced solutions as a tool throughout their process. Along with the increased usage of the technology, hardware is also advancing quickly. Many of the major tech corporations along with venture-backed companies are investing heavily into the space looking to make the next break-through.
