In the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industries, new technologies are advancing with each passing day that makes the process of construction smarter, more streamlined, and indeed futuristic. When it comes to embracing the possibility of new innovative technologies, the AEC has long been at the forefront. As shown by trends like 75% of the construction industry adopting BIM or technologies like augmented reality and virtual reality seeing a 50% climb in popularity in the construction industry in just one year, construction companies are striving to lead when it comes to next-generation technologies.
The technology revolution in the construction industry is only just beginning. Whereas 3D modeling and CAD took the industry from the 20th century to the 21st century, the advent of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and more are poised to bring today’s AEC industries into the future.
Technologies Disrupting the Construction Industry
Those who have followed the AEC industries closely will note that technological disruptions in the construction industry are a common thread throughout the sector’s history. Whereas Revit Architecture has transformed retail space planning, for example, the following nine technologies are poised to become the next big things in construction:
Augmented Reality
As previously mentioned, 3D modeling software took architects off the paper drafting table and onto the computer. In a similar trajectory, augmented reality (or AR) is poised to take the industry from viewing models on a computer screen to seeing them in front of their very own eyes.
Key Takeaways for the AEC Industry
New ways to visualize designs: Augmented reality allows you to place models and visual changes on physical spaces in front of you, making you see and feel those changes before they’re implemented, thus transforming the planning, designing, and customer experiences.
Cost-efficient planning: By allowing designs to be visualized before implemented, AEC gets to benefit from the same benefits as rapid prototyping in getting feedback without having to implement changes.
Virtual Reality
Where augmented reality allows viewers to see new models on top of physical spaces, virtual reality (or VR) can transform them into completely modeled spaces that haven’t even been built yet.
Key Takeaways for the AEC Industry
Virtual Tours: The use of virtual reality means that potential buyers or renters of a building can feel what it’s like to physically walk through a space no matter where they are, even if they are across the world of the building is yet to be built.
3D Visualization: While CAD models could communicate a building’s blueprint, VR allows AEC companies to pitch models and designs to clients through a more immersive 3D visualization that will wow clientele.
Internet of Things
The increasingly connected world is being dominated by the Internet of Things, or IoT, which lets digital devices communicate and interact with each other. Everything can be connected to the IoT, from refrigerators to light bulbs to vehicles and more. The AEC industry is able to leverage the IoT to transform its operations as well.
Key Takeaways for the AEC Industry
Energy savings in operation: The more connected technologies on the Internet of Things in a building, the more efficiently run it can be. By reducing power loads on unnecessary heating/cooling, lighting, and other appliances, occupants will use much less energy without having to lift a finger.
Smart cities: The more connected a series of buildings are, the closer we’ll get to truly smart cities. In such an arrangement, the IoT will enable buildings to communicate with each other, share clean energy sources, and ensure reliability and affordability of resources.
Self-healing Concrete
Self-healing concrete may sound like a technology that’s straight out of a sci-fi film, but it’s a technology that’s already available today. By including bacteria that get activated by water, this material can literally rebuild itself.
Key Takeaways for the AEC Industry
Extended material lifetime: Self-healing concrete is able to restore itself when cracks occur, extending the lifetime of the key building material and thus the lifetime of the building.
Decreased maintenance costs: When a typical concrete block gets damaged, it could mean costly and time-intensive repair. But self-healing concrete simply needs water, and it will get the job done for a tiny fraction of the effort.
Smart Bricks
It made sense when phones become smart, or even when televisions become smart, but what is a smart brick? Think of them like classic Legos and other construction toys for children: they are created in a way that interlocks tightly and reliably in a modular manner, which allows for rapid deployment and construction for a fraction of the effort.
Key Takeaways for the AEC Industry
Rapid building processes: By eliminating many of the needs for physical processes to connect different building materials that require heavy labor, these smart bricks can allow buildings to go up much more rapidly.
Modular construction: Smart bricks are also quite adept at modular construction, meaning a single design and supply of smart bricks will allow teams to build large amounts of these buildings where they’re needed with less training and less time.
