Bringing Technology to Life A Blended Approach to Enhance the Preconstruction Process
BY TOMMY TURNER, SENIOR PROJECT MANAGER Client engagement in the design and preconstruction process is one key to ensuring the project gets off to a successful start while meeting the needs and goals of each owner. Teams are getting increasingly creative in how they do this. From largescale, life-size mockups for users to physically experience the space to “stepping” inside designs virtually to “walk” a new facility before construction commences, we are finding new ways to collaborate. The team at Fort Leonard Wood is taking this one step further, blending two techniques to leverage technology and virtual reality while providing physical mockups of the space for the owner, doctors, nurses, and other hospital staff. The challenge with merging the techniques is finding the right combination and mockup approach that works for each owner, as there are many ways to provide and utilize them. In some cases, the rooms
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are built early in the construction process; this restricts the ability to make changes to the design due to the speed and schedule of construction. In other cases, the mockups are limited to select rooms such as a surgery suite or exam room, which doesn’t provide an overall sense of the space. Mockups have also been created once design is complete, which would require rework on part of the designer to correct the documents. Doing virtual and physical mockups early in design reduces the rework, supports changes by the end-user, and builds early confidence that the design is headed in the right direction.
PUTTING MOCKUPS TO THE TEST To overcome the challenges presented by the ever-changing world of medical equipment, JE Dunn built facsimile medical equipment (made from foam) to represent the current industry practices and design criteria to allow the visitors to get full-scale, touch-and-feel review of the room. For USACE to finalize the equipment selections with JE Dunn and other equipment contractors, this mockup
