Skanska is utilizing technology of the future. During Q1 2017, the company will open Europe's first innovative experience room based on “mixed reality” technology. Using Microsoft HoloLens head-mounted smartglasses, the company will present a hologram of Generation Park, currently under development and which is set to become Skanska's biggest office complex in Central and Eastern Europe. The room will be located near Daszyński Roundabout. “We'd like to invite you for a short walk through the future. Guests will be able to walk around the entire complex, stroll among the buildings and feel the atmosphere of the place” – says Renata Nowakowska, Innovation Manager at Skanska Property Poland. This will be the first commercial use of HoloLens technology in Europe.
HoloLens smartglasses is one of Microsoft's newest inventions. They allow for the display of any multimedia content in the form of holograms – three dimensional images visible not on a computer screen but within one’s reach. After putting the glasses on, and depending on the application, we can observe the solar system, characters from our favorite computer games, a famous actress sitting on the same couch as us or a modern office building without leaving the room. This is an example of “mixed reality” – a combination of experiences both in the real and virtual worlds.
- The experience room will allow you to see the shape of Generation Park, hear the sounds of Wola district and “stroll” through the neighborhood as well as experience the space between the buildings. We will “transport” our guests to the roof of the tower where they will be able to see a panoramic view of the city from the terrace. No one has ever presented a building, not yet delivered to market, in such detail. We will move to virtual reality but also remain in touch with what is happening here and now – comments Renata Nowakowska.
According to experts, HoloLens is a groundbreaking technology which will completely change the approach towards presenting multimedia content as well as working styles and business as a whole. In the case of office buildings, clients and partners will no longer have to imagine how their office might look based on two-dimensional visualizations.
- HoloLens technology is currently at an early stage of development. However, in five years’ time it will become a standard and we will be able to invite our clients to visit buildings’ interiors, regulate lighting, arrange the office together with the client, select the color of the elevation as well as designing open squares around the investment – adds Renata Nowakowska. – HoloLens is only one example of technologies that we are working on. We recognize great potential in solutions that use augmented reality. We know that such solutions will become integral to our work not only in our contact with clients but will also contribute to knowledge exchange and designing. Our whole business and the way we work are currently on the threshold of technological transformation – she underlines.
The hologram of Generation Park is prepared in co-operation with Skanska by Studio 216 digital production agency, one of seven firms selected by Microsoft to be part of the “Microsoft HoloLens Agency Readiness Program”. Skanska Property Poland can draw on the experience of Skanska’s unit in the United States, which launched an experience center in America and developed a hologram of the 2+U office building in Seattle using this technology.
Skanska Group is active in the area of innovations. The company has introduced a number of innovative solutions to the Polish market in building technologies, the designing of green buildings and other groundbreaking solutions for clients. The company invests in modern tools used in the area of general contracting (for example, the first BIM 360 system in Poland implemented during the development of Green2Day office building, Mobile Laser Scanning, 3D laser scanning and drones). As for the office building industry, the company has already used in Poland solutions such as 3D virtual strolls, applications for managing services available within the building and multimedia tables for presentations of objects.