_Virtual Reality and the Built Environment：Building prototypes.pdfVIP

3 Building prototypes Virtual reality is being used in the design and construction of large complex buildings such as airports, hospitals, research laboratories and shopping malls. It is also being used on infrastructure projects, including road and railway networks. In this chapter we explore the business drivers for these uses. We look at how virtual reality enables professionals to prototype the product and ‘informate’ the process. The production of large complex products, such as modern buildings and infrastructure, is markedly different from the mass production of consumer products (Hobday, 1996; Gann, 2000). Production is project-based and innovation often occurs at the boundaries between different traditional roles (von Hippel, 1988; Hobday, 1996). Virtual reality is beginning to be used in many sectors that produce large complex product systems. It is being used to co-ordinate the work of different professionals involved in projects and to improve their understanding and use of underlying engineering data. Users in the construction sector are inspired by a