Tour new technology that allows clients to experience a space before it exists
A visitor to Reality Cave Inc. in Kitchener, Ont., puts on special sensor “tracking” glasses before stepping into the theatre-like booth (5.6 metres wide, three metres tall and three metres deep).
The 3-D visualization technology commercialized by Reality Cave, a privately held incubator start up, creates the illusion of depth and perspective using stereoscopic (3-D) projectors illuminating images on four sides of the booth.
The application allows architects, builders and designers to test building designs – prior to construction.
Clients can ‘walk around’ an interior space, get a sense of verticality, see colours, textures and dimensions.
With a virtual walk-through of a proposed layout, clients can experience a design and raise issues that need to be adjusted.
The technology can also be applied to an exterior space to illustrate landscaping and parking.
Recently, the technology was used to help plan the Woodlands library, a joint project of the City of Mississauga and the Peel Board of Education. The building, which is designed in the shape of a book lying on its spine, will be built at 3255 Erin Dale Station Rd.
Here’s the interior view of the library as it would be seen in the 3-D visualization.
On a recent visit to Reality Cave, Mississauga librarians and city officials view the book return on the exterior of the library.
Architect Steve Burrows of +VG Architects, right, uses a joy stick to guide observers through the library space. “This was an opportunity to be in the library without having to build the library [first],” says Sue Coles, area manager for Mississauga Library Services.