Contact Igloo

At a glance

 

 

The Igloo Core Engine-powered Project Immersion Lab (PIL) has seen extensive use, including:

  • 161 customer tours in just 23 weeks.
  • Hosted industry-leading decision-makers, including Fortune 500 companies and renowned industry pioneers.
  • Had 30 unique immersive project design reviews where designs were finalised or signed off by stakeholders in the same 23-week period.

The product

The choice to go with a collaborative, shared immersive space over VR headsets came from a desire to build an inclusive and social space. Falkbuilt often found that one of the most challenging parts of any construction project was getting decisions made. So, by using a shared immersive space, the environment is entirely familiar, yet completely revolutionary - bringing new meaning to the idea of getting everyone together in a room to get decisions made. 

Known as the PIL (Project Immersion Lab) Box, this space offers a 360° immersive view inside any design space, giving project stakeholders a realistic sense of the space before it’s even built. 

From a structural standpoint, the freestanding pod features a strong and flexible steel structure that supports the integration of projectors in the walls and ceiling. Cables flow obstruction-free from the quick-access integrated millwork with ventilation. Then it’s finished with bespoke grooved cladding with LED Accents - all acoustically sealed and shielded from the factory below. Its open-fronted design allows for a harmonious blend of the wider environment and the immersive one, creating a more welcoming experience for users. 

The use of Igloo Core Engine was essential in ensuring this space could provide maximum efficiency and effectiveness. Because of its content-agnostic approach, Igloo Core Engine synergises effortlessly with the existing digital tools Falkbuilt uses, allowing for tools and use cases such as:

  • Echo, a cloud-based machine learning platform used from design to delivery, used alongside the PIL Box's state-of-the-art visualisation technology, Echo enables clients to make real-time changes from design to infrastructure from inside their project - drastically reducing cost and schedule.
  • An 8K, 360° camera is also used to film on-site and feed this video back into Igloo Core Engine, allowing users of the system to watch the space they're standing in be built around them - or see the status of jobs live and as if they were there in person. This is just one part of an ongoing expansion of a 360° content bank to use in the space. 
  • Falkbuilt also use Nscape renders, bringing clients into the space either physically or virtually, showing design options and renders and enabling them to mark up or make changes on the fly, such as material or colour changes. 

 

  

   

“The immersive pod takes away all the guesswork you would otherwise have to do with a 2D screen. We're able to get people in and show them the spatial dynamics and how the space really works right away.”

Andy Nolloth

Technology Specialist, Falkbuilt Ltd.

The result

The immersive pod was brought in by Falkbuilt with four clear goals in mind: 

  • Showcase projects and environments at true-to-life scale 
  • Immerse clients in the future workplace, healthcare and speciality spaces before construction begins 
  • Present interactive digital assets in a way that traditional displays simply cannot 
  • Differentiate Falkbuilt's customer experience while creating memorable conversations around innovation and technology. 

Its success in these areas is demonstrated by becoming a key part of Falkbuilt’s daily processes, being used in virtually every virtual tour it hosts. In just 23 weeks, 161 customer tours were hosted, equating to 7 per week or one every single day of the year. At the current pace, the space is expected to host over 350 tours this calendar year. 

These tours have included decision-makers from a wide range of organisations, including industry-leading decision-makers from Fortune 500 companies, renowned industry pioneers, and many more across healthcare, commercial, higher education, technology, government and sports. 

The immersive pod has also become a key point of interest for these visiting clients. Across these 161 tours, more than 30 meaningful conversations have arisen directly related to the Igloo experience. 

It’s also progressed beyond just being a demonstrative tool, becoming a valuable project collaboration asset, bringing owners, architects and contractors inside proposed environments before they’re built. The platform has been used successfully during presentations and project development efforts with clients including major electronic and telecommunications corporations helping communicate design intent, evaluate spaces at full scale, and create a far more engaging decision-making experience over traditional presentations. 

 

 

   

“The value for us really rests in its flexibility. It's become much more than just a visualisation tool. It is a consistent component of our sales process, customer experience and project collaboration workflow.”

Andy Nolloth

Technology Specialist, Falkbuilt Ltd.

Going forward

Falkbuilt’s vision for the space going forward is not just to have design ideas presented inside the immersive pod, but to have design changes coordinated and made in real-time from within the space. This can then be communicated back to the factory downstairs and carried out seamlessly.

There are also plans in place to use the space as an interactive storytelling tool, with touchpoints baked into designs to provide more detail and increase the engagement between stakeholders.

Along with this, to match the heightened immersion gained from using the space, Falkbuilt intends to bring new life to its designs with moving features and animated parts for the utmost semblance of the real-world, finished product. To do this they will leverage Igloo Core Engine’s built-in software integrations with engines such as Unity and Unreal.

Testimonials

“The real beauty of it is that we’re just getting started, we’re not even close to pushing the boundaries of what this system is capable of, and that’s what is really exciting for us.”

Andy Nolloth

Technology Specialist, Falkbuilt Ltd.

“We were up and running so quickly with the space, it was definitely one of the easiest transitions to a new piece of software in a long time and it just feels like it's been there forever, which is what good technology does. It’s part of the family already.”

Andy Nolloth

Technology Specialist, Falkbuilt Ltd.

“Our showroom, the factory, is 90,000 square feet. But the Igloo can take us up to 900,000 square feet. We can just keep going forever in a day until we've run out of ideas and options.”

Andy Nolloth

Technology Specialist, Falkbuilt Ltd.