Fueling Market Penetration in The AEC Industry Using Virtual Reality

VR disruptions are transforming the way building product manufacturers are showcasing, marketing and selling their products. The architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry consist of multiple stakeholders working together to bring a project to fruition. Building product manufacturers and suppliers play a crucial role in supporting architects and designers. Traditionally, building product manufacturers and suppliers have reached out to design and architecture firms through a tedious process of marketing that includes preparing, stocking and distributing samples and catalogs which regularly became outdated with the introduction of new product lines, creating multiple physical mockups, and organizing lunch-and-learn sessions at their premises to showcase their products to architects and designers. This process has led to a lot of wastage in time and costs, as well as loss of additional revenue opportunities. Most smaller suppliers have found it difficult to showcase their products to larger design firms due to limited marketing budgets. On the other hand, architects and designers also spend a lot of time and effort on research, discovery, and specification of building product and materials. Technology disruptions, including virtual reality in architecture, are slowly transforming this cumbersome process into a seamless, immersive and productive experience for all entities of the AEC ecosystem. Virtual reality architecture software enables architects and designers to get a better understanding of form and space mass through virtual tours of their architecture models and helps them to communicate their design vision to other stakeholders. The application of immersive technologies to the search, discovery, selection, and specification of building products and materials allow architects and designers to select, specify, place and visualize their products in their architectural models in real-time and in the space in which they are designing. Building product manufacturers can now showcase their products by creating digital twin product mock-ups in VR and placing them in the virtual design for architects and designers to review, select and specify. VR-led visualization of the building product(s) in the design leads to seamless coordination between architects and building product manufacturers which, in turn leads to improved product understanding and experience for the end-customer. Showcasing products through a VR platform has helped building product manufacturers reduce costs associated with physical mockups, models and printed catalogs, and also increased a customer’s willingness to pay. Such platforms also, enable architects and designers to browse through building products, choose the products that they want to work with, and insert these directly in the design in real-time. VR for architects is here to stay! As architectural and design firms adopt VR into their design processes, it is time for building product manufacturers and suppliers to keep up with disruptive innovations and leverage them to their advantage. Check out Trezi to find out how you can use our VR platform to reach more architects faster, showcase your products better, collaborate seamlessly with designers and architects and fuel opportunities for you in the AEC space.