Architecture and Building Information Management

HLRS's visualization tools can support architects, engineers, and, planners in designing better buildings. Our platform can integrate computer aided design (CAD), building information management (BIM), simulations, and environmental datasets to develop a comprehensive, immersive model of how a building will function. Once implemented in virtual reality, the developers can move through a building virtually, gaining a more immediate understanding of how it will function and be experienced. This approach can help to identify potential opportunities for optimization and even avoid costly design mistakes before construction begins.

Photo of two people in the CAVE virtual reality facility observing the layout of electrical cables passing through the ElbX tunnel.

Digital twin of ElbX tunnel

HLRS supported engineers and architects in the planning of this critical component of SuedLink, a major engineering project that will deliver offshore wind energy generated in northern Germany to the south.

Construction planning for new Stuttgart train station

3D virtual reality models created at HLRS helped engineers to successfully build an architecturally unique and complex kind of reinforced concrete column that will be a showpiece of the new facility.

Researchers investigate the function of the MULTI elevator in virtual reality.

Thyssenkrupp Elevator test tower

Using virtual reality and numerical simulation, visualization experts at HLRS contributed to the development of the MULTI system and its test site in Rottweil, Germany.

Virtual reality used in building design.

RMI/X CorporateServiceCenter

Developers used COVISE and OpenCOVER to visualize buildings, showrooms, and exhibition booths in the DC Virtual Reality Center EP/QIC in Sindelfingen, and worked with HLRS to improve the design process using tangible interfaces and simulations.