The immersive space used is a sleek 6x6m cubed retrofit room, in the centre of which sits a conference table where design teams can sit, analyse, and make changes in real time.
Eight Christie Captiva ultra short throw projectors regress seamlessly into the ceiling, allowing for full wraparound immersion without compromising on picture quality or adding unnecessary visual clutter to the space.
Additionally, Five Eris E5 speakers provide studio quality sound evenly to the entire space, combining to deliver crisp, accurate sound and an accurate, reliable viewing experience.
The space is powered by Igloo Core Engine Enterprise, our most powerful and robust system for demanding workflows and maximum capability.
“I think that there is nothing in comparison to the opportunity to enter the room and feel like you just entered a different universe, that actually you entered the design and you feel surrounded by it, you can feel it and you can test it yourself.”
Daria Jones
Lead Principal Landscape Architect, AtkinsRéalis
By deploying an Igloo immersive space, AtkinsRéalis is able to realise multiple profound benefits to their design, consultation, and reviewing stages, as well as a significant boost to overall productivity.
Firstly, both internal and external communications are greatly improved. Clients can be taken right inside the space, enabling them to easily view and understand scale and magnitude. These collaborative client design review sessions allow for instant feedback, quicker decision making, and a more effective, face-to-face consultation process when compared to tools such as VR headsets.
Internal communications benefit from projecting a myriad of data points and project information across all walls of the Igloo. This generates a more thorough analysis of data sets and sources, as well as project management dashboards. This can then be enhanced with Igloo-to-Igloo conferencing, which allows disparate, global teams in other Igloo systems to dial in for remote meetings and shared analysis.
Additionally, it allows local teams of differing skill sets to come into the space and gain a quicker understanding of what’s going on through 3D visualisation when compared to 2D drawings or regular screens.
Our software platform for immersive spaces, Igloo Core Engine, is also a necessity for projects of this scale. With the capability for real-time rendering required for AtkinsRéalis, having a software programme that is both easy to use and compatible with the existing digital tools it uses, such as AutoDesk, Revizto, and Rhino was an essentiality.
These external tools can also aid in bringing their content to life through the addition of interactive elements to 3D models, improving engagement and subsequent retention of the system's users.
“What we do, especially in the Middle East, as engineering and design, typically are complex projects and very hard to, even for ourselves, visualise the magnitude, the complexity, and the intricacy of the design. So, moving beyond traditional media, from paper, sketches, over to 3D models on big screens and now into these fully immersive environments is a necessity. It's not an option.”
Anastasios Dimas
Regional Design Technology Director, AtkinsRéalis
AtkinsRéalis has multiple Igloo systems deployed worldwide, all providing value in multiple means across its global operations.
As a power user of Igloo software, AtkinsRéalis will continue to expand on its use cases for the system, pushing the envelope of what’s possible through innovative, collaborative thinking. It will also continue its adoption and integration of cutting-edge immersive technology to aid in delivering some of the largest infrastructure projects in the world on target and on time.
It will also use this Igloo system for the design and consultation for the rest of the New Murabba district outside of the Mukaab skyscraper, as well as other affiliated projects in the region.
AtkinsRéalis also uses Igloo systems for the training and onboarding of staff, providing a safe, realistic environment to effectively prepare staff for work on key infrastructure projects.
“It's a very good way for us to put together a lot of different data sets, data sources from 3D models, drawings, project management aspects like cost planning that typically are being reviewed separately and not at the same time. Putting them together in a more seamless manner is great for us to coordinate and collaborate, not just internally within this office, but also with our other offices across the globe who have adopted similar technologies.”
Anastasios Dimas
Regional Design Technology Director, AtkinsRéalis
“Where we are doing multiple design reviews, that architecture process is a very long, tedious and repetitive process, and you want to remove these kinds of problems where there is the same discussion happening every few days. Having something like this has helped us reduce that.”
Kumar
VR Specialist
“We have this design coordination across 30, 40 odd disciplines per project, typically involving our teams abroad, whether in the UK or India. It's this almost real time collaboration, you go over the key issues that are potentially hindering progress and then you find solutions. That's where the value lies.”
Anastasios Dimas
Regional Design Technology Director, AtkinsRéalis
