Smart glasses are one of the emerging technologies of the modern day. These glasses are equipped with functionalities that provide information and support the things you see in the real world. They enable you to make calls, play games, and take pictures. One type of smart glasses is mixed reality glasses, which allow you to render 3D objects.
Besides these functions, smart glasses are also taking root in architecture with their useful functions. To become a successful architect, it’s essential to familiarize yourself with current technologies making waves in the industry—including smart glasses—to do your work more efficiently. With that said, here are some functions of these glasses in architecture:
Improved site analysis
Researching a site’s historical, climatic, geographical, and other factors is important to ensure that the future structure suits the location. Architects often use different tools, including cameras, to accomplish this. A drone camera is one of the most common choices because it can take aerial photos for inspection and documentation and helps with creating 3D models. However, bringing and operating drones can be inconvenient, especially when visiting multiple sites or crowded locations.
Smart glasses—like those from DAQRI—can alleviate this problem. These gather real-time information about your surroundings, including solar orientation and topography. This allows you to conveniently share and bring the field to the office for quicker site analysis and future reference.
Historic preservation
Apart from creating new buildings, architecture also deals with restoring and minimally renovating existing structures. This requires meticulous planning on your part, as you’ll need to preserve the historical details of a building to retain its facade.
The HoloLens smart glasses assist in this task by overlaying historical data onto current sites and buildings. Doing so, you’ll be able to gauge what modern materials to use to match the original design, what architectural decisions to make that won’t make a significant change, and how your proposed changes will look against the historical elements of the building.
Better collaboration and remote consultation
Collaboration and consultation with fellow professionals are essential in achieving a goal for a structure. In the past, multiple people may have visited a site to discuss its progress, or someone took photos and videos to share with the team.
While this method still works, smart glasses make it easier and more efficient. They improve this process by allowing you to capture pictures and videos from your point of view. Thanks to its built-in camera, microphone, and Wi-Fi modules, you can also call your team to show them a site in real-time. The Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses can do all these and even share content directly to social media—should you wish to post photos immediately—thanks to their collaboration with Meta. Overall, it's a more convenient way to share ideas.
Digital walkthroughs
Showing a potential structure to clients requires your best presentation skills to convince them that your project deserves their attention and consideration. This can be challenging since the structure is still in its planning process and has yet to be constructed.
The Oculus Quest virtual reality headsets are like smart glasses in that it lets you create virtual walkthroughs of a space. This helps the client understand your vision of the area—even without having started on its construction phase. It will immerse them in a realistic yet virtual environment, allowing them to experience what it would be like to live or work in the future area. This enhances your communication and deepens their understanding of your project, helping with their decision-making process.
Smart glasses help architects become more effective in doing their tasks. For similar articles, check out our other posts here at Amazing Architecture.
