www.itcon.

org - Journal of Information Technology in Construction - ISSN 1874-4753

BUILDING INTERACTIVE MODELING FOR CONSTRUCTION

EDUCATION IN VIRTUAL WORLDS
SUBMITTED: June 2010
REVISED: September 2010
PUBLISHED: February 2011 at http://www.itcon.org/2010/13
EDITOR: Turk Z.

Kihong Ku
Department of Building Construction, School of Construction, Virginia Tech, USA
[email protected]

Pushkar S. Mahabaleshwarkar
Master of Building Construction graduate, Virginia Tech, USA
[email protected]

SUMMARY: The number of design and construction professionals who are using Building Information
Modeling (BIM) is rapidly growing and simultaneously the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC)
community is faced with the challenge of remote collaboration as offshore outsourcing continues to grow. While
BIM facilitates information sharing between AEC professionals via purpose-built three-dimensional (3D), 4D
design, analysis, evaluation, and documentation models, the communication of such 3D data-rich models if often
fragmented and typically limits real-time communication and interaction of users who may be geographically
dispersed and/or lack the modeling and analyses skills to interact with these models. AEC education needs to
expose students to these emerging practice changes while finding new ways to more effectively address the
fundamentals of design and construction. Virtual worlds – in this research the Second Life platform – have the
potential to address the communication issues and effectively complement traditional teaching approaches and
furthermore integrate with BIM to enhance construction education. Nevertheless, despite the potential benefits
of virtual worlds, various obstacles exist. This paper presents the concept of Building interactive Modeling
(BiM) which complements the capabilities of BIM with social interaction to enhance collaborative information
and knowledge sharing. Role-playing scenarios developed in Second Life demonstrate specific opportunities of
BiM.

KEYWORDS: Building interactive Modeling, Virtual, Remote Collaboration, Role playing, Scenario, Building
Information Modeling

REFERENCE: Kihong Ku, Pushkar S. Mahabaleshwarkar(2011) Building interactive modeling for construction
education in virtual worlds, Journal of Information Technology in Construction (ITcon), Vol. 16, pg. 189-208,
http://www.itcon.org/2011/13

COPYRIGHT: © 2011 The authors. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution 3.0 unported (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), which
permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the
original work is properly cited.

ITcon Vol. 16 (2011),Ku, pg. 189

1. RESEARCH GOAL AND METHODOLOGY

The focus of this paper is the promise of virtual worlds as emerging environments for construction education that
complement traditional classroom based teaching approaches and supplement the modeling and simulation
functions of BIM (building information modeling) with social interaction and information exchange capabilities.
The authors define the vision and concept of Building interactive Modeling (BiM) which suggests the
combination of virtual worlds and BIM as a platform and environment for virtual collaboration and learning.
Second Life is discussed as an environment for specific role-playing scenarios of design and construction tasks
and mirroring (Mitchell, 2008) of the physical environment through sensors (e.g., thermal sensor, light sensors,
wind sensors, etc.) for operation and maintenance of buildings, in light of various examples developed by the
authors.

The primary research sources for this paper are example scenarios developed in Second Life by the authors for
construction process simulation, construction safety training, design reviews and building system control and
monitoring. The research required scenario development based on the authors’ experience in construction
management and education, programming (scripting within Second Life), and virtual collaborations in a cross-
university course based on various BIM tools and models.

2. BACKGROUND

Currently, the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry is facing enormous technological and
institutional transformations with their resultant difficulties and challenges. The industry is embracing new
modes of information sharing and adopting emerging and fast growing concepts such as building information
modeling (BIM), sustainability, virtual collaboration and related technologies. Almost fifty percent of the AEC
industry is now using BIM and twenty percent of non-users are planning to adopt it within two years
(McGrawHill, 2009). In addition, the phenomenon of off-shoring, outsourcing architectural and engineering
services to companies in southeast Asia, South America, or Eastern Europe, is increasing (Nayak and Taylor,
2009; Del Villar and Pollalis, 2007). Outsourcing impacts the team dynamics as effective remote collaboration in
these practices is essential to successfully produce construction drawings and relevant digital deliverables as a
result of this interaction. Lack of adequately BIM trained personnel is a significant constraint hindering the use
and adoption of the technology in the industry (Sacks and Barak, 2009). The ASCE Policy 465 “Body of
Knowledge” (BOK and BOK2) acknowledges that engineers need to deal with globalization and working in
integrated international environments and furthermore raises the issues involved with outsourcing and doing
business remotely using the internet and other computer tools. Traditional teaching or training courses do not
effectively bridge this gap between training/academia and practice.

Virtual Learning Environments effectively complement traditional education (Koskela et al., 2005; Sawhney and
Mund, 1998) extending beyond the physical reach of classrooms over the internet. Building on the advancements
of information, communication, and simulation technologies, Virtual Reality (VR) techniques have been
extensively utilized for training high-risk occupations such as pilots and nuclear power plant operators. The
mining industry has begun to adopt VR for task-based training (Lucas and Thabet, 2007; Kizil and Joy, 2001).
However, VR approaches that utilize role-playing for educational purposes in construction have been limited.
While the Building Management Simulation Center in Leeuwarden, Netherlands, and the Advanced
Construction Technologies Simulation Center (ACT) in Coventry, UK, offer innovative experiential learning
through simulated role-playing scenarios that integrate physical jobsite environments (e.g., site huts) and virtual
reality models projected onto large parabolic projection screens (Stothers, 2007), these programs have been
constrained to the physical location of the centers. To benefit a larger audience of construction students who are
primarily studying in rather traditional classroom settings, research should investigate the possibilities of virtual
reality simulation environments that could be delivered over the internet. The introduction of virtual worlds such
as Second Life to design (Nederveen, 2007) and construction education (Ku and Gaikwad, 2009) has the
potential to bridge the gap between learning about a subject and ‘learning by doing’. In the context of these
needs, this paper discusses the possibilities and limitations of ‘Building interactive Modeling’ a novel concept
that was envisioned using examples in the Second Life environment for construction education.

ITcon Vol. 16 (2011),Ku, pg. 190

3. DEFINING BUILDING INTERACTIVE MODELING

The authors propose the concept of Building interactive Modeling (BiM) which is a collaborative
communication framework that augments the concepts of Building Information Modeling to enhance user input
and facilitate user interaction with the model and other users. BiM utilizes interactive and immersive
functionalities of virtual world environments and allows multiple stakeholders to collaboratively model,
visualize, review, and update 3D digital models to share the various perspectives and knowledge and information
of participants during the lifecycle of buildings. The Building interactive Modeling framework in this paper
concentrates on construction education and is illustrated through scenarios in a virtual worlds environment. The
enabling technologies include virtual worlds, building information modeling, and the concepts are based on the
notion of collaboration in architecture, engineering, and construction.

3.1 Virtual Reality, Virtual Construction and Virtual Worlds

Virtual Reality (VR) technology has been used in 3D graphics, video games, 3D scientific visualization,
architectural design, and medical research and education (Messner and Horman, 2003). Messner and Horman
further elaborate on the use of VR for visualization of project designs, visualization of construction plans and
schedules, design and analysis of construction equipment, and communication and training of project teams. In
addition, they categorize VR technology into desktop VR and Immersive VR. The primary application of VR in
construction is to simulate real world properties through 3D visualization and to allow interactive navigation to
examine the construction process. Thus, previous VR research in construction has been intimately related to
virtual construction research which has concentrated on 3D and 4D CAD modeling that are being applied to
construction visualization as a project management tool to assist decision-making of the construction planning
process (Kamat and Martinez, 2000; Fischer et al., 2003). These methods link 3D building models with
construction activity sequences to visualize activities of a schedule. 4D virtual construction models have also
been explored as self-directed tools for web-based open learning (Haque and Shah, 2007). However, a
shortcoming of 4D CAD approaches has been the inability to visualize the processes of material movement and
installation of construction components, which are omitted and simply represented as products within its final
position temporarily fading in and out (Rowlinson and Hadikusumo, 2003). To overcome this issue, Huang et al.
(2007) have developed a virtual prototyping system which integrates construction processes such as material
storage, staging, and erection. Acknowledging the emphasis of research and development on 4D visualization for
construction planning, and furthermore, the recent movement towards Building Information Modeling which
intends to integrate all relevant information from design to construction, VR for construction education should
incorporate and enhance process components and interaction with temporary structures. The value of simulation
based construction learning tools is significant (Sawhney and Mund, 1998), and Stothers (2007) describes virtual
reality simulator techniques that emulate the complexity of real work environments under work-like pressure to
encourage dynamic and critical thinking based on carefully structured scenarios that can be replicated.
Therefore, research should examine the potential of VR not only to apply interactive role-playing tools to 4D
product models but also to integrate process visualizations of temporary works and construction equipment to
enhance real-world context for deeper learning.

Taking advantage of virtual worlds’ ability to complement traditional learning environments, many educational
institutions have implemented online virtual training courses to engage students with role playing experiences. In
fall 2007, Regent University conducted an online counseling skills class using Second Life to provide key role-
playing experiences to distance education students. The facility was designed considering the specific needs of
confidentiality and privacy required for the instructors and students of Human Services Counseling (Walker and
Rockinson-Szapkiw, 2009). Similarly, Harvard University began offering a law course in Second Life from fall
of 2006 (Foster, 2006).

Considering the design and construction industry, the primary application of VR is to simulate real world
scenarios through 3D visualization allowing interactive navigation to examine the construction process.
Previous research in the exploration of virtual worlds has demonstrated that they could provide an excellent
platform for an open source collaborative design practice. The project ‘Wikitecture’ experimented with design
collaboration and developed procedures and protocols that are necessary to practice a more open and distributed
approach to architectural design (Chase et al., 2008). Maher et al. (2005) presented the ‘Design World’

ITcon Vol. 16 (2011),Ku, pg. 191

environment which enables collaboration between designers from different disciplines who may be in different
physical locations.

A study on visualization technologies (VT) for the integration of building end-user perspectives, Alejandro
Carvajal (2005) argued that current VT applications in design and construction do not address building end
users’ (BEU) needs. The process of communicating and transforming end-user requirements into project design
has not been adequate and explicit (Egan, 1998; Latham, 1994). Traditionally, sketches and drawings are being
used to translate client needs into design specifications making it difficult for end users to comment due to their
inability to properly read and understand two-dimensional drawings (Barrett and Stanley, 1999). Carvajal (2005)
further argued that building end-users are a source of experience, expertise, and new ideas which can be
“accessed” by means of visualization technologies and demonstrated that when dealing with people who have
not developed their spatial skills, or do not have an architectural or engineering background, visualization
technology can effectively assist to identify end users’ needs.

3.2 Building interactive Modeling (BiM)

An emerging area of research of virtual worlds applications is the use of serious gaming in the AEC industry.
Virtual worlds have the potential to engage and support non-specialist building end users, novice students who
are learning about the building design and construction process, and also facilitate the interaction among
multidisciplinary design team members who are geographically dispersed. For example, virtual worlds can
involve, building end user to reach collective design decisions and control the way in which decisions are made,
monitor results, and improve productivity of meetings. According to Maher and Merrick (2005), a networked
and multi-user virtual environment can be used as a tool to support a broad range of activities including
communication, collaboration and education. This research proposes the concept of Building interactive
Modeling (BiM) which facilitates real time communication and interaction to allow enhanced collaborative
visualization, inspection, interaction, and manipulation of complex 3D models to break the barriers of
knowledge and information flow from client briefing to operation and maintenance phases. Building interactive
Modeling (BiM) combines BIM and virtual worlds and facilitates interactive simulation of tasks including real
time collaboration for construction planning, design reviews, interactive training, and facilities management
performed by multiple project players who are not always collocated and technically proficient to interact with
digital models produced in Building Information Modeling software environments (Fig. 1).

FIG. 1: Building interactive Modeling concept to improve AEC collaboration

ITcon Vol. 16 (2011),Ku, pg. 192

In this paper we define Building interactive Modeling (BiM) as an interface that mediates three-way
synchronous and asynchronous immersive or semi-immersive multi-user or human-computer interaction. Figure
2 illustrates the three-way communication of BiM that is facilitated in virtual environments. BiM allows users
with minimal software skills to participate in a collective decision making process through role-playing
scenarios that involve interaction with building systems and/or construction equipment and other project
participants or players during project programming, design, construction, and O&M phases to access, manage,
simulate, analyze, and update project data.

FIG. 2: Comparison between single, two-way and three-way interactive environments

For the widespread use of VR in the construction industry it is important that 2D and 3D representations become
the primary interface for interactivity (Issa, 2000). The above mentioned Building interactive Model concept
would provide a networked multiuser environment that accommodates 3D modeling and simulates physical
interaction in virtual spaces with an enhanced ability of collaborative visualization, inspection, interaction, and
manipulation of complex building models. To explore a proof-of-concept of the building interactive modeling
framework, the authors have investigated Second Life (www.second life.com) a commercial virtual worlds
platform. The examination of the tool requirements for an end-user interface included development of various
scenarios and interface components for the various lifecycle phases of programming, design, construction, and
operations and maintenance (Fig. 3). The scenarios included architectural design options review via geometry
filters, building systems library, construction and safety planning via 4D visualization and safety training
scenarios, and building system control and monitoring via physical-virtual systems integration.

FIG. 3: Virtual worlds applications for BiM

Table 1 summarizes the areas of Building interactive Modeling for construction education that were explored in
this study and categorizes the key components and applications devised in the Virtual Worlds environments. The
BiM areas were explored through a number of scenarios implemented in Second Life and are described in
subsequent sections of this paper as indicated in Table 1.

ITcon Vol. 16 (2011),Ku, pg. 193

TABLE 1: Overview of BiM areas and its virtual worlds components and specific scenarios
BiM Areas Virtual Worlds Components Scenarios
Programming & Scope definition Students can learn real time collaboration of how
design review Geometry filters building end users interact with the building
Building systems library for model and design teams to evaluate design
design alternatives options. Dispersed users can navigate the
building and chose different materials, modify
building components, attach review notes, etc.
(Section 4.3)
Construction Construction equipment Students can learn and explore construction
planning operation planning by interactively operating equipment to
Safety training move and install material into its final position in
4D visualization the building (Section 4.1)
Students can learn about the various safety
aspects of construction equipment and operations
via interactive tutorial sessions, interactive
quizzes, and hands-on role-playing scenarios
(Section 4.1)
Dispersed teams of students can visualize and
review 4D sequencing of construction operations
in immersive settings (Section 4.2)
Facility management Building systems control Building environmental systems composed of
various sensors, actuators, can be integrated with
virtual worlds models to control and monitor
physical building systems. (Section 4.4)

4. BIM EXPLORATIONS IN SECOND LIFE

Second Life, created by Linden Lab, is a virtual world which is used for serious gaming (i.e., games for
simulation of management training, collaborative decision-making, and for education (Nederveen, 2007). This
environment is a distributed, virtual space where people are represented as avatars, created and customized by
themselves. People represented as avatars can walk, fly, chat, and interact with other people, objects or
computer-controlled agents in place like contexts. Avatars can walk around and build with a building toolset and
the primitive objects, “prims”, which are single-part objects or multi-part objects that are combined of prims, or
“sculpties” which are more complex primitives whose shape is determined by an array of x, y, z coordinates
stored as RGB values in an image file. Unlike video games, Second Life is used by health-care providers,
companies, academics, and the military, to learn and work together, and to trade in real world virtual items, or to
run medical triage simulation (Economist, 2007).

Some examples of training applications in Second Life include virtual cancer labs for training doctors by
European universities, consortiums of corporate training entities of Wal-Mart stores, American Express, Intel,
and more than 200 other companies who are experimenting with alternative ways to foster more collaborative
learning environments. As government entities, the Swedish embassy is one of the first organizations that have
established a virtual presence in Second Life as an information portal for Sweden (sweden.se). Nederveen (2007)
discusses the possibilities of Second Life for collaborative architectural design focusing on the many virtual
complex constructions that have already been collaboratively created within Second Life. In a similar context,
Studio Wikitecture’s (http://studiowikitecture.wordpress.com/) “Open Architecture” approach demonstrates an
interesting collective design experiment for architecture and city planning.

To take advantage of Second Life’s functionality for interactive communication and visualization, the authors
conducted an investigation of Second Life on incorporating role-playing scenarios for construction process
learning, 4D visualization, safety training, design reviews, and real-time integration of physical sensors for
building monitoring. The proposed database integration between external BIM repositories and the Second Life
environment (Fig. 1) was not implemented in this research because it requires server level integration that has to

ITcon Vol. 16 (2011),Ku, pg. 194

be supported by Linden Lab. However, utilizing the scripting interface of the Second Life browser, a number of
educational role-playing scenarios were developed to illustrate the potential of Second Life for BiM. Figure 4
shows the overall framework of the scenario workflow and the relevant players for each scenario as discussed in
the following subsections.

FIG. 4: Mapping of the BiM scenarios

4.1 Construction planning and safety training

A virtual project of a real-life construction project was developed to understand the modeling process of building
models. A virtual model of the Bishop-Favaro Hall, a recently completed Virginia Tech building for the School
of Construction (Fig. 5) was selected because detailed project documentation (e.g., CAD drawings, shop
drawings, etc.) were available and information (project photos, project schedule, project participant interviews,
etc.) of the construction process had been collected during and post construction.

Modeling Workflow for Second Life

The first step was to acquire an empty piece of land (island) in Second Life which was located on the “Panaki
Cove” on the Second Life grid to create the virtual model of the existing building (Fig. 5). Based on the
construction drawings and shop drawings, the building model was broken into steelwork components, concrete
floors, architectural precast panels, and windows. Because the modeling process in Second Life is time-
consuming in comparison to specialized modeling software such as Revit or AutoCAD, the authors initially
created a Revit model. However, the file import process into Second Life caused difficulties with the Revit CAD
file format. Therefore, the authors searched for an alternative modeling tool that was supported by Second Life.
The AC3D software interface is similar to standard 3D modeling software and thus allows rather efficient
modeling compared to Second Life modeling and produces an acceptable file format to export to Second Life.
Third-party plug-in software for CAD software (e.g., AutoCAD, Maya, 3D Max) import has been under
development by various entities such as the Delft University of Technology. Figure 6 demonstrates the model
file conversion process from AC3D to Second Life. The objective of modeling the building was to understand
how individual components could be broken into basic building blocks and components for assembly simulation
within Second Life. The modeling exercise illustrated that individual components could be moved, installed and
joined, to simulate material storage, staging, erection, and assembly processes.

ITcon Vol. 16 (2011),Ku, pg. 195

FIG. 5: Bishop-Favrao Hall photo (top), Second Life model (bottom left) and project site (bottom right)

FIG. 6: File conversion process

Temporary works - Scaffold safety training

As temporary works are a critical element of the overall construction planning process (Huang et al., 2007), the
case study included an erection scenario of scaffolding. Temporary works can be modeled or also traded within
Second Life with other people who have already modeled such structures. Rather than modeling a scaffold from
scratch, the case study purchased an existing model within Second Life from a vendor (GyroTech Construction
Vehicle). Considering the significance of construction falls, involving scaffolding failures, a simple scenario was

ITcon Vol. 16 (2011),Ku, pg. 196

created for safety training purposes. The first step was to categorize scaffolding hazards into component
problems, connection problems, and miscellaneous problems. Component problems are related to single
components such as a damaged bracket, a missing plank, or a missing support, to the guardrail, or a missing top
rail, or mid-rail. Connection problems are related to connection defects in the scaffold. Miscellaneous problems
are concerned with excessive spacing between posts, insufficient overlap between planks or overloading planks
with excessive construction load.

The training scenario in Second Life was based on two major tasks, (1) the erection of the scaffolding platform,
and (2) the inspection of an existing platform. In the erection scenario (Fig. 7), trainees participated by installing
the platform components through a proper installation sequence and making sure that the components are
appropriately positioned and connected. Erection instructions are provided within Second Life to trainees before
the exercise. In the inspection scenario, the scaffolding components are already assembled and include problems
and defects that are strategically planned, to be identified and corrected by the trainee (Figs. 8, 9).

FIG. 7: Scaffold training – Erecting scaffold

FIG. 8: Scaffold training- Dislocated component and missing safety pin (left image)
FIG. 9: Scaffold training-Corrective action by trainee (right image)

Construction equipment – Tower Crane operation training

Cranes are a central component of many construction operations and are associated with a large fraction of
construction deaths; in fact, estimates suggest that cranes are involved in up to one-third of all construction and
maintenance fatalities (Kang and Miranda, 2006). Riggers and signalmen are a critical part of crane operations,
and they need to receive training similar to that provided to operators. Second Life simulations can be used for
training and studying collision-free and optimal-operational path for erecting structural elements, consequently
reducing schedule delays and allowing safe construction. Methods to coordinate multiple cranes in a
construction site can also be evaluated.

The creation of construction equipment such as cranes requires additional scripting to be added to the geometric
model. For example, scripting is utilized to enable rotational motion of the jib around the base, horizontal
movement of the roller along the jib, and vertical movement of the hook by the roller. Scripting is also required
to enable the rigger to attach and detach load material from the hook.

ITcon Vol. 16 (2011),Ku, pg. 197

For the case study, an existing crane was purchased to study the possibilities and limitations of crane control
(Figs. 10, 11). Potential scenarios can address control issues of identifying the geometrical information from
given buildings and cranes, searching for the safest and most-efficient paths to erect components.

FIG. 10: Crane training (left: bird’s eye view of crane location on the site; right: ground level view of crane)

Communication is an integral activity for tower crane operation. Voice function in Second Life can emulate
radio or other voice communication which is critical for tower cranes or mobile cranes where the operator is
unable to see the load and therefore forced to rely on riggers and signalmen. In addition to voice communication
systems, hand signals can be simulated within Second Life training scenarios as well. An illustration of a set of
one- and two-handed signals of ANSI/ASME B30.x standards can be easily incorporated into the training
scenario.

Training simulation center

A training center was developed nearby the virtual building (Figs. 12, 13). This facility was devised to provide
safety instructions and the relevant training information for trainees before entering actual role-playing sessions.
Displays provided in the facility can be linked to latest information available on the web, as well as training
videos of detailed installation procedures (e.g., steel erection). Miniature models are exhibited within this virtual
center to assist trainees’ understanding of heavy equipment (Fig. 12). Instructors can also organize virtual
seminars facilitated by chat and voice communication functions that can be used with or between trainees to
interact with each other, complementing traditional classroom based lectures learning.

FIG. 11: Crane training- operator cabin FIG. 12: Training center- Crane model

FIG. 13: Virtual training center in Second Life

ITcon Vol. 16 (2011),Ku, pg. 198

Building on the first iteration, the second iteration incorporated safety standards and regulations using ‘local
chat’, ‘dialog box’, and voice communication where each safety related object was given an information
attribute to convey safety specific procedures in an interactive way. Interactive quizzes were scripted to verify
the trainee’s ability of recognizing potential safety hazards (Fig. 14). ‘Red spheres’ were used to convey the
information contained in the objects or building components. These spheres were useful to catch trainees’
attention. The scripts developed for this scenario generate:
• Animated objects
• Temporary change in object‘s physical state
• Display information, standards, and regulations in text/audio format.
The following script is a schematic example of a prompt developed to communicate to an avatar OSHA
Regulations (Standards – 29 CFR) Specific Excavation Requirements. - 1926.651.

default

touch_start(integer total_number) {

llSay(0,"Walkways shall be provided where employees or

equipment are required or permitted to cross over excavations.
Guardrails which comply with 1926.502(b) shall be provided where
walkways are 6 feet (1.8 m) or more above lower levels.";

}
Places which can present potential safety hazards such as falls were animated to react to trainee’s actions. To
produce the effect of falls hazards related to unsafe lumber scaffolding, combinations of LSL (Linden Scripting
Language) scripts and 3D objects that are broken into number of pieces were developed. These objects
temporarily change in the 3D model environment. The safety training scenario flowchart and scripting flowchart
for an animated scaffolding platform is illustrated in Figure 15 (‘rezzing’ refers to creating or making an object
appear in a land on Second Life).

Figure 11. Safety Training in Second Life

FIG. 14: Safety training scenarios in Second Life

ITcon Vol. 16 (2011),Ku, pg. 199

4.2 Construction Sequencing Visualization

Traditional 4D visualization software are generally hosted locally on computers thus make it difficult to use for
real time collaboration between dispersed parties, although recent model servers (e.g., Horizontal Glue is a web-
based model server that allows real-time collaboration between dispersed parties and will be explained in this
paper). To assess Second Life’s potential for distributed information sharing of construction sequencing the
authors developed an LSL script that enabled to share a sequenced visualization of the construction of the
building.

FIG. 15: Safety training scenario sequence and sculpted object scripting map

To visualize the sequencing of construction components a script was developed to assign color codes and a time
delay between individual components to display activity progress on a timeline. The script changed the visibility
of the assigned building component and displayed the relevant activity start and end date and changed the
building component color from red to green to graphically display which activities are in progress or already
completed (Fig. 16).

FIG. 16: 4D visualization in Second Life

The 4D analysis scenario allowed selection of various sequencing alternatives of a 3D model and viewer based
viewpoint selection and navigation control. This scenario can be further developed to carry out clash detection
between various building components. However, a major shortcoming of this visualization is that the script
needs to manually include activity durations per a time delay that has to be scaled and calculated. The related
assignment of visibility of the building components makes 4D visualization within Second Life a tedious task. It
would be necessary to develop direct links to external scheduling software to make this process more user
friendly.

ITcon Vol. 16 (2011),Ku, pg. 200

4.3 Architectural Design Option Review
As construction projects are becoming more and more complex and require sophisticated design and engineering
solutions, it is important to identify the best alternative if not the optimal solution (Carvajal, 2005). End-users
and facilities management team can provide a valuable input during design evaluation proposal. Carvajal (2005)
argues that end users have a developed experience and expertise of particular building spaces and systems with
their continuous interaction and this expertise can be “accessed” by means of visualization technologies.
According to the CIC Design Quality Indicator Online (http://www.dqi.org.uk/dqi/Common/DQIOnline.pdf), the
traditional design process involves the end user as a guinea pig who frequently ends up as an unhappy customer
and remains unaware whether the building really meets the needs until it is occupied. Many studies have
experimented with the use of computer graphics to improve visual/spatial skills to avoid such results (Miller and
Bertoline, 1991). According to Treichler (1992) visualization improves spatial understanding and people learn
up to 83% of the new information through sight.

One aspect of the Building interactive Modeling concept is to incorporate end users’ experience and expertise in
building design through interactive visualization to allow their input of new design ideas, and access, update,
approval of project early in the design process (Figs.17, 18). The developed a scenario focused on providing the
following aspects to support interactive and collective decision making by the end users:

• Walk through the proposed building and attach notes/photos to approve design and/or suggest
new design ideas;
• Modify building parts;
• Discover and solve design problems;
• Apply texture, materials, and architectural and design patterns.

FIG. 17: Interactive design review scenario sequence and sculpted object scripting map

ITcon Vol. 16 (2011),Ku, pg. 201

FIG. 18: Design review example

4.4 Integrating Physical Sensors and Actuators for Responsive Environments

Virtual environments also suggest direct links to the physical world through sensors and actuators which can
interpret and control the physical environment. The emerging paradigm of intelligent environments (Addington
and Schodek, 2005), interactive architecture (Fox and Kemp, 2009), architectural robotics (Green and Gross,
2009), responsive architecture (Chiu, 2009), focus on environments that not only facilitate interaction between
people, but also actively reconfigure themselves in response to human and environmental stimuli. The fusion of
computation and physical tangible sensors and actuators transform the control of building lighting, acoustics,
thermal and privacy, and other parameters based on the occupants’ needs (Fox and Kemp, 2009). A hypothetical
scenario of an interface within Second Life to a physical home that allowed control and monitoring of building
systems (e.g., lighting, water usage, etc.) was envisioned. As a proof of concept, a virtual knob (Fig. 19) was
modeled within Second Life and linked with a physical light sensor and potentiometer that were attached to a
microcontroller (i.e., the Arduino microcontroller). Figure 19 illustrates the data connection between the physical
devices and Second Life. The experiment demonstrated that the virtual knob successfully synchronized with the
light sensor and potentiometer. The light intensity read by the light sensor affected the brightness of the virtual
knob and turning the physical potentiometer rotated the virtual knob.

ITcon Vol. 16 (2011),Ku, pg. 202

 Sensors Arduino Processing
Update the data regularly
- Light sensor
- Potentiomet
er

Light value
Pachub
Angle value e.com
Second
Web service
Life for saving real
time sensor
data
Fetch the data regularly

Virtual Knob

Use the data to update or manipulate virtual objects

FIG. 19: Data flow between the physical sensors and Second Life (diagram developed by graduate research
assistant Spencer J. Lee)

5. BARRIERS TO VIRTUAL COLLABORATION IN SECOND LIFE

The investigations demonstrated opportunities for simulating construction processes and incorporating
experiential learning into traditional classroom environments. Despite the above mentioned opportunities a
number of obstacles to the implementation and diffusion of those prototypes were observed. First, importing 3D
CAD models into certain virtual worlds applications is still limited. With the diffusion of Building Information
Modeling we expect that software companies will work together to enable direct data translation between virtual
worlds such as Second Life and standard 3D modeling software. The continuing advancements of Building
Information Modeling and Virtual Construction technologies mandate research efforts to address successful
integration of 4D visualization and intelligent 3D modeling with virtual worlds. Second, virtual worlds
incorporate various unrealistic physical properties that conflict with safety training scenarios. For example,
Second Life avatars can fly, and earth does not have the physical properties of mass that cause certain soil
conditions to cave in. Thus, to utilize Second Life for safety training purposes advanced scripting was employed
to apply such properties. Third, from a logistics standpoint, careful role-playing scenarios will have to be
developed, to implement pedagogically effective settings that are adequately customized to different size classes
and diverse levels of scenario complexities. Fourth, as Second Life is not a goal or end oriented video game,
proper feedback systems that assess and guide learners’ abilities, need to be integrated into Second Life sessions.
This can be facilitated through on-screen dashboards, text messages, automated agents, etc. Fifth, the level of
detail of construction activities requires careful coordination when simulating labor or equipment based
procedures for construction work. In other words, productivity rates and activity durations are not going to be
realistic and thus such factors need to be considered during scenario developments. Sixth, the development of an
open equipment and temporary works library would require a common protocol for geometric modeling, feature

ITcon Vol. 16 (2011),Ku, pg. 203

scripting, and model ownership, file format, equipment size, type, control rules, etc. We further describe the
issues of interoperability, model view, and limitations of custom programming.

Interoperability
The modeling tools available in Second Life use basic geometric shapes of objects called ‘prims’ to create
graphic content or buildings. The model can be made realistic by mapping texture of real-world objects.
However, to make the models more realistic and appealing, the users need to achieve expertise over certain tools
available in Second Life as well as third party programs. When comparing the purpose-built 3D models
produced in a CAD or BIM software environment, Second Life modeling lacks not only accuracy but is also
more tedious to achieve a similar level of representation. Thus, it is imperative that the Second Life environment
supports interoperability with external modeling software. Many institutes such as the Delft University of
Technology has been developing third-party plug-in software for CAD software (e.g., AutoCAD, Maya, 3D
Max) to resolve interoperability issues (Ku and Gaikwad, 2009). In the method adopted by the authors which
adopted a middleware software (i.e., AC3D), the imported objects are broken down into additional numbers of
faces and as a result the imported model may generate an incomplete 3D model because of the limitation of
number of prims that are allowed per parcel within Second Life. Also, conical and cylindrical objects cannot be
imported in SL using this method.

Multiple Model Views

The representation of a building is a translation of an abstract concept into a tangible graphical form (Boeykens,
2008). As illustrated in the following figure, Boeykens (2008) suggested that Building Information Modeling
should present the user with a choice of representations, each displaying a part of the project data in an
optimized form, and thus the representation should not be limited to 2D and 3D views (Fig. 20).

FIG. 20: Ways of representation of a digital model: Adopted from Stefan Boeykens (2008)

Current Virtual Worlds do not support multiple representations of a 3D model which limits the level of detail
that is required to produce multiple views and accurate construction drawings. Builders in traditional
construction practice require construction drawings in 2D format and Virtual Worlds’ inability to produce 2D
drawings will be a potential problem in implementing virtual worlds as an ‘integration tool’.

Unrealistic Behavior of Avatars and Limitations of the Scripting Interface

The users of Second Life use the Linden Scripting Language (LSL) as their client programming interface to
control the behavior of an avatar and to add functionality to objects (prims). The prim in combination with LSL
known as a sculpted prim can produce animated behavior and simulations for various purposes. LSL is a fairly
simplified scripting language targeting laymen who are not professional programmers, to script and customize
such behavior or functions. The syntactic style of the LSL language is similar to that of C or Java. The text in the
script is compiled into an executable byte code which is set to run within a virtual machine on the Second Life
main server. However, LSL contains many limitations for the end user to replace variables and parameters which
pose difficulties of updating models and linkages with other data files such as construction schedules and
models. To address part of the above shortcomings of the Linden Scripting Language the authors developed an
LSL script that communicated with an HTML and PHP script to enable custom user input without having to
change the LSL scripting (Fig. 21).

ITcon Vol. 16 (2011),Ku, pg. 204

FIG. 21: Webpage interface to auto generate LSL scripts

6. CONCLUSIONS

Based on our explorations in Second Life, the authors propose that the concept of BiM offers new means to
engage dispersed and traditional classroom students to interactively study the construction process of buildings.
Role-playing would add value to the understanding of activity sequencing, crew coordination, and interface
management, safety training, design reviews, and building operation management which are often limited in
traditional educational settings. The authors plan to further evaluate the impact of the proposed BiM scenarios
with a sample of undergraduate and graduate students at Virginia Tech.

In addition to students’ participation as trainees within simulation scenarios, the authors also envision students’
proactive participation as creators of an open object library of construction equipment and temporary works.
Thus, besides utilizing Second Life as a training environment, there is also a need to teach students modeling
and scripting skills for designing process components. The pedagogical aspect of involving students in this
process is twofold: (1) students will gain a deeper understanding of construction equipment and temporary works
by building it themselves, and (2) they will be contributors to an open learning environment that will not only
benefit themselves and their peers, but a larger community of construction students.

In the past, virtual worlds have been explored as a sketching tool or a means of visualization and communication
aimed to satisfy the tasks in the early phases of design for architectural collaboration (Maher et al., 2005;
Nederveen, 2007; Chase et al., 2008). Introduction of Building interactive Modeling expands the previous
approaches and successfully adapts virtual worlds to support construction education and incorporate various
users’ perspectives to access, manage, and update project data that ultimately fosters construction integration.
Future research in the area of multiple view representation, interoperability, and archival of models will
synchronize this dynamic environment of virtual worlds with current BIM tools. Building interactive Modeling
will leverage participants’ knowledge for better scope management and collective decision making. Two future
research areas that can further enrich the BiM framework are suggested:

Integration of CAD/Modeling software and Real-time Review of Design Options

Interoperability of Virtual Worlds with other traditional CAD software is necessary as the current virtual worlds
environments do not support precise 2D drawing and 3D modeling tasks. While virtual worlds environment such
as Second Life offer a shared modeling space and a real time interface, they currently do not provide functions
for simultaneous review of multiple design options which should be addressed by combining external 3D models
and databases with the virtual worlds environment.

Agent Based Modeling

This type of modeling can be used to analyze differing behavioral complexity of various scenarios by producing
dynamic virtual environments. 3D objects can react dynamically with simple scripted behaviors that are
triggered by events. Agents perceive their environment through sensors and use a reasoning process to act in the

ITcon Vol. 16 (2011),Ku, pg. 205

world using their effectors. As compared to the scripted behavior of objects, agents are created by using
programming language to provide them with the ability to carry out a complex reasoning and ultimately produce
dynamic behavioral complexity (Maher and Merrick, 2005). This type of modeling system will be effective for
construction safety planning and training.

7. REFERENCES

Addington, M. and Schodek, D. (2005). Smart materials and technologies, Elsevier, Architectural Press.

ASCE Body of Knowledge (BOK2) (2008). “Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge for the 21st Century:
Preparing the Civil Engineer for the Future”. Second Edition, American Society of Civil Engineers,
2008.
www.asce.org/bookstore/book.cfm?book=8241 accessed on

Boeykens, S. (2008). Representational Limitations and Improvements in Building Information Modeling,

Education in Computer Aided Architectural Design in Europe (eCAADe), edition: 26, 17-19 September,
Antwerpen, Belgium.

Carvajal, A. (2005). The Use of Visualization Technologies for the Integration of Building End-User
Perspectives, a Managerial Approach. Proceedings of American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
conference, Vol. 179.

Chase, S., Schultz, R., Brouchoud, J. (2008). Gather 'round the Wiki-Tree: Virtual Worlds as an Open Platform
for Architectural Collaboration", in ARCHITECTURE 'in computro': Integrating Methods and
Techniques, Proceedings of the 26th Conference on Education in Computer Aided Architectural
Design, (eCAADe) Europe, Antwerp, 809-815.

Chiu, H. (2009). Research on Hybrid tectonic methodologies for responsive architecture, CAADRIA 2009

Del Villar, D. and Pollalis, S.P. (2007). Understanding outsourcing architectural services, Harvard Design
School, Design and Technology Report Series.

The Economist, “Getting Serious,” 6th December 2007,

https://www.economist.com/search/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10202591, accessed on 2/22/08

Egan, J. (1998). Rethinking Construction. London, the Report of the Construction Task Force to the Deputy
Prime Minister. http://www.azobuild.com/details.asp?ArticleID=2866

Fischer, M., Haymaker, J., Liston, K., (2003) “Benefits of 3D and 4D models for facility managers and AEC
service providers,” 4D CAD and Visualization in Construction: Developments and Applications, 2003,
A.A. Balkema Publishers

Foster, A.L. (2006). The Chronicle of Higher Education, Harvard to Offer Law Course in 'Virtual World', 8th
September 2006, http://chronicle.com/article/Harvard-to-Offer-Law-Course-in/32352 accessed on
6/25/2010

Fox, M. And Kemp, M. (2009). Interactive Architecture, Princeton Architectural Press, New York.

Green, K.E. and Gross, M.D. (2009). Architectural Robotics: Intelligent and adaptable built environments,
UbiComp2009, Sep 30- Oct 3, Orlando, FL, USA

Haque, M. and Shah, G., (2007) “4D Construction Visualization: Techniques with Examples,” 2007 ASEE
Annual Conference & Exposition (ASEE Conferences Excellence in Education)

ITcon Vol. 16 (2011),Ku, pg. 206

Huang, T., Kong, C., Guo, H., Baldwin, A., Li, H. (2007). A virtual prototyping system for simulating the
construction process, Automation in Construction, 16, 576-585

Issa, R.R.A. (2000). Virtual Reality: A Solution to Seamless Technology Integration in the AEC Industry,
American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Vol. 278, 1011-1012.

Kamat, V. and Martinez, J. (2000) “3D visualization of simulated construction operations,” Simulation
Conference Proceedings, 2000. Winter, Orlando, FL, USA

Kang, S. and Miranda, E., (2006) “Planning and visualization for automated robotic crane erection processes in
construction,” Automation in Construction, Vol. 15, Iss. 4, 398-414

Kizil, MS, and Joy, J.,(2001) “What can Virtual Reality do for Safety?” The University of Queensland, Minerals
Industry Safety and Health Centre.

Koskela, M., Kiltti, P., Vilpola, I., and Tervonen, J. (2005). Suitability of a Virtual Learning Environment for
Higher Education, The Electronic Journal of e-Learning, Vol. 3, Iss. 1, 21-30.

Ku, K. and Gaikwad, Y. (2009). Construction Education in Second Life, Construction Research Congress,
University of Washington, Seattle, Vol. 339, 1378-1387.

Latham, M. 1994. "Constructing the Team." Final Report of Procurement and Contractual Arrangements in the
UK Construction Industry HMSO London.

Lucas, J. and Thabet, W. (2008), Implementation and evaluation of a VR task-based training tool for conveyor
belt safety training, ITcon Vol. 13, Special Issue, Virtual and Augmented Reality in Design and
Construction, 637-659

Maher, M.L., Ahmed, A., Egan, S., Macindoe, O., Marchant, D., Merrick, K., Namprempree, K., Rosenman, M.,
Shen, R. (2005). Design World: A tool for team collaboration in high band virtual environments, Report
Project 2002-024-B/Report 31-12-2005-01, http://eprints.qut.edu.au/27024/ accessed on 6/25/2010

Maher, M.L. and Merrick, K. (2005). Agent Models for Dynamic 3d Virtual Worlds, Proceedings of the 2005
International Conference on Cyberworlds, 27–34.

McGrawHill (2009). SmartMarket Report, The business value of building information modeling: getting
building information modeling to the bottom line.

Messner, J. and Horman, M., (2003) “Using Advanced Visualization Tools to Improve Construction Education.”
Proceedings of CONVR 2003, Virginia Tech, USA.

Miller, C. L. and Bertoline, G. R. (1991). Spatial Visualization Research and Theories: Their Importance in The
Development of An Engineering And Technical Design Graphics Curriculum Model, Engineering
Design Graphics Journal, Vol. 55, No.3, 5-14.

Mitchell, W.J. (2008). “Foreword - Virtual worlds, virtual prototypes, and design,” Virtual Futures for Design,
Construction & Procurement, Brandon, P. and Kocaturk, eds., Blackwell Publishing, xiv-xx

Nayak, N., and Taylor, J. (2009). “Offshore Outsourcing in Global Design Networks,” ASCE Journal of
Management in Engineering, Vol. 25, Iss. 4, 177-184.

Nederveen, S. (2007). Collaborative Design in Second Life, Second International Conference World of
Construction Project Management, 24-26 October, Delft, Netherlands.

ITcon Vol. 16 (2011),Ku, pg. 207

Rowlinson, S. and Hadikusumo, B.H.W., (2003) “Virtually real construction components and processes for
design-for-safety-process (DFSP),” 4D CAD and Visualization in Construction: Developments and
Applications, 2003, A.A. Balkema Publishers

Sacks, R. and Barak, R. (2009). Teaching building information modeling as an integral part of civil engineering
in freshman year. ASCE Journal of professional issues in engineering education and practice, Vol. 136,
No. 1, 30-38.

Sawhney, A. and Mund, A. (1998). Simulation Based Construction Management Learning Systems, Proceedings
of the WinterSimulation Conference, 1319 – 1324.

Stothers, N., (2007) “The use of Virtual Reality simulation in the Education and Training of Construction
Managers. Are the British going Dutch?” Second International Conference World of Construction
Project Management, October 24-26, 2007, Delft, The Netherlands

sweden.se: the Official Gateway to Sweden, “Sweden Opens Virtual Embassy 3d-Style” 30th May 2007.
http://www.sweden.se/eng/Home/Lifestyle/Reading/Second-Life/ accessed on 6/25/2010

Treichler, D. (1992). Projected Instructional Media: The Good the Bad and the Ugly, Annual ASEE Conference,
Toledo, OH.

Walker, V.L. and Rockinson-Szapkiw, A. (2009). Educational Opportunities For Clinical Counseling
Simulations In Second Life, Innovate: Journal of Online Education, June-July, Vol.5, Issue 5.

ITcon Vol. 16 (2011),Ku, pg. 208