Skanska goes virtual

In Q1 2017, the company will open Europe's first experience room based on “mixed reality” technology. Using Microsoft HoloLens headgear, the company is to present a hologram of Generation Park, which is set to become Skanska's biggest office complex in Central and Eastern Europe. The room will be located near Daszyński Roundabout. “We'd like to invite you for a short walk through the future. Guests will be able to walk around the entire complex,” said Renata Nowakowska, the innovation manager at Skanska Property Poland. The company claims that this will be the first commercial use of HoloLens technology in Europe.

The hologram of Generation Park has been prepared in collaboration with Skanska by digital production agency Studio 216, one of seven firms selected by Microsoft to be part of the Microsoft HoloLens Agency Readiness Program. Skanska Property Poland could draw on the experience of Skanska’s unit in the United States, which launched an experience centre and developed a hologram of the 2+U office building in Seattle with this technology.

HoloLens headgear is one of Microsoft's latest products. It allows for the display of multimedia content in the form of a hologram – not displayed on a computer screen but within one’s reach. After putting the glasses on, any three dimensional visualisation can be shown to the user without the need to leave the room, such as the solar system, characters from computer games, a famous actress sitting beside the user on the same couch or a modern office building. This is known as “mixed reality” – a combination of both the real and virtual worlds. “The experience room will allow you to see the shape of Generation Park, hear the sounds of Wola district and stroll through the neighborhood as well as experience the space between the buildings. We will transport our guests to the roof of the tower where they will be able to see a panoramic view of the city from the terrace. No one has ever presented a building that has not yet been delivered to market in such detail. We will move through virtual reality but also remain in touch with what is happening here and now,” she added.

“HoloLens technology is currently at an early stage of development. However, in five years’ time, it will become standard and we will be able to invite our clients to visit buildings’ interiors, regulate lighting, arrange the office together with the client, select the colour of the elevation as well as design the open squares around the investment,” she said. “HoloLens is only one example of the technologies that we are working on. We recognise the great potential in solutions that use augmented reality. We know that such solutions will become integral to our work not only in our contact with clients but will also contribute to the exchange of knowledge and design. Our whole business and the way we work are currently on the threshold of technological transformation,” she explained.