Design for Aging with BIM and Game Engine Integration
Wei Wu, Ishan Kaushik · 2015
The senior population in the U.S. is growing steadily.Market research has shown that the majority of seniors would like to age independently in their own residence.However, the challenge to age in place is to create the physical and service environment that is resilient to accommodate the needs of seniors that are uniquely associated with the aging process.Design for aging is a professional practice dedicated to address this specific problem.As Building Information Modeling (BIM) is gaining industry-wide acceptance, its implementation in the residential sector is relatively limited.This study summarizes the experience and lessons learned from a project that is directed to explore the use of BIM and game engine to facilitate design for aging.The project is interested in assessing how visualization and interaction achieved via the integration of BIM and game engine may enhance student understanding of aging in place design criteria and pertinent code compliance interpretation.Then entrepreneurial thinking is also incorporated to expand the project scope to a BIM/game engine prototype development that aims to provide practical solutions improve design communication between professionals and clients.The paper shares the initial findings and showcases the prototype under development.