Using Augmented Reality in AEC Tertiary Education: A Collaborative Design Case

The architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry involves substantial requirements for visualization of complex three-dimensional models. There is a significant opportunity to expand the range of tools used to prepare students for this reality, while increasing engagement in the learning process. This study details several potential benefits of advanced visualization tools for AEC design courses, and proposes augmented reality (AR) as an addition to current teaching methods. An AR prototype that facilitates a mock building project design meeting has been developed, and a user evaluation (N=60) was carried out to measure its impact on visualization and engagement. The results demonstrate that AR enables students to visualize buildings with greater speed, accuracy, and confidence than paper drawings during a mock design meeting. User perspectives strongly favored AR across fields such as attention span, affinity for the building design, and ease of both visualization and communication. These results show promise for the use of AR in facilitating visualization practice during design education. (c) 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.