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March 2018 \ BUILDING DIALOGUE \ 37 it and hone in on the right solution more quickly. And what about clients who view VR vs. 2-D drawings? AG Our clients vary in their ability to read the drawings and render- ings. Architects and designers often forget they’ve been training for years to understand and interpret design drawings. There is a struggle in ensuring there’s a connection between what we conceive and what the clients perceive. Allowing spaces to be viewed in VR makes our process more streamlined. Are there any other local Gensler projects that have benefitted from the use of VR? AG One in particular is called Giambrocco – a mixed-use project planned in Denver. Here, we have been using VR to explore the public realm that stitches together several buildings and different uses into a cohesive whole. The intent of these areas is to provide a space for building tenants and the public alike to meet for a coffee, grab lunch, shop or catch a show. Also envisioned is a rotating schedule of events either day or night. In order to give our clients a true idea of what an experience such a community movie night would look and feel like, we’ve been rendering these in VR. We’ve also been doing a lot of interior VR rendering tenant fit-out for spaces and office building projects. All of this helps give clients a true sense of space before anything is built. Those are some great uses of VR in later stage presentations. Has Gensler used VR in other phases of a project, like pitching? AG Yes, we’ve used VR in pitches to good effect. This can take the form of sharing new designs or sharing our work portfolio de- pending on the ask. In either circumstance, VR can be immense- ly helpful during pitches because it can evoke such a sense of spatial realism. It’s exciting for clients to see design concepts come to life so quickly. There is also an aspect of novelty that makes VR exciting to clients, as they may not have seen or used it before. So, when we show potential clients projects using this tech- nology, they are excited and feel we’re exceeding their expecta- tions. They see value in working with a firm that is using the latest technology to solve their challenges. Can you summarize what do you think VR brings to your firm and to the industry as a whole? AG VR seems to be quite literally adding another dimension to our work. VR is a new tool that offers an experience of scale that we haven't had before. It increases our power to concep- tualize and iterate ahead of actually having to physically build something. It will be exciting to see how virtual reality will influence the evolution of design thinking in architecture as a whole. At Gensler, we see the potential in virtual reality technology as a valuable tool for collaboration. We are exploring ways to bring people from across our firm, all over the world, together to interact through a shared virtual model and experience, design, and iterate all at once. \\ rkendal@yulio.com ELEMENTS Virtual Reality