Why hire video gaming designers for construction?
They are instinctively innovative, already thinking out of the box and familiar with a community aspect from multiplayer games. We may not be developing movies in California, but every week brings something new to our Media Studio team members; another challenge and a different approach to how we work with technology in our industry.
What percentage of gaming engines does Gilbane use in their work?
Approximately 70% of our work uses gaming engines at some point in the life cycle of a project. The traditional approach to project rendering was previously a longer process that included three days of downtime on a rendering farm while waiting for a rendering. Now in those three days we can have an almost complete virtual mock up ready for Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and animation, cutting our complete production time in half. This additional time can then be spent proactively solving problems instead of waiting for them. We completed approximately 100 VR mock ups in 2017, which is up 40% from 2016, and I believe we will see that same growth this year as well.
When do you use VR?
We use VR throughout the life of the project: from proposal, to client presentation, during virtual mockups and through to facility management. We can swap out materials in real time based on client feedback, as well as adjust the cost of the building, regardless of whether it is a hospital, residential unit, prison or museum. Virtual Reality is an innovative tool that helps solve problems in a 1:1 scale.
Other benefits?
Virtual Reality and Video Game engines are great time savers, but also provide us with the ability to stream the value out in multiple different directions to a larger audience and in a quicker fashion. This speeds up the decision-making process and in turn saves money across the board. Hiring video game designers for our Media Studio roles widens the talent pool and enhances the quality of output, which ultimately benefits our Gilbane clients. Some other benefits are these technologies can help branch new relationships with people or organizations we might not have been introduced too. In one week we made a simulation for War Veterans who couldn’t make the trip on the Honor Flight, and then we made a simulation for 14-yearold kids for a SciFi day at a local children’s museum.
Have you ever hired outside of your market?
Any additional tips to share?
Further details on this hiring strategy can be found in a 15-minute talk that Lucas Richmond gave at BD+C’s Accelerate Live! Conference in May 2017 in Chicago.
