Technologies for the acquisition, storage and mining of big data are increasingly affecting the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry, modifying the way buildings are conceived and developed. Indeed, they will be no longer designed and managed only as financial products, but also as service providers to support the needs of the occupants. This is a great challenge in the building sector, that is experiencing a period of various (r)evolution concerning products, technologies and processes. This research defines a digitally enabled framework for operating cognitive buildings, presenting a case study by which it has been possible to analyze how information collected during operations could inform end-users (i.e. administrators, owners, facility managers and occupants) about the behavior of both buildings and occupants. Focusing on building in-use stages, advantages in tracking the behavior of occupants and in satisfying the needs of users should be derived through the availability of real-time information, i.e. collected by sensors. In this way, not only the behavior of users could be taken into account, but also predicted performance could be correlated with real measurement and, consequently, the building performance gap should be estimated and filled. A connection between as-designed virtual models (resulted from a BIM - Building Information Modeling - process) and as-delivered physical assets (monitored in real-time, i.e. through BMS - Building Management Systems) could be established to explore how BIM practices and technologies could improve a data-driven asset management, by enriching building information in operation. The results should allow pointing out how data and information gathered along building life cycle could provide services to users.

Being able to perform an effective design review is a fundamental skill that every design or construction student should possess. Performing a design review requires critical thinking, analysis, and communication skills. To support the acquisition of these skills, this study investigated the impact of a virtual reality game, the design review simulator (DRS), in a classroom environment. To assess the impact of the game, the authors performed a crossover experiment with 120 students. The students were split into groups and were asked to perform design reviews in two treatment conditions, 2D drawings or the DRS. A knowledge test was administered at the end of different treatments to collect quantitative data on the students' performance. Results from this research indicate that the DRS supported students in identifying a higher number of design mistakes. Furthermore, students that played with the DRS after performing 2D drawings reviews scored significantly higher in the knowledge test. The research results contribute to the growing knowledge base on the implementation of VR in the classroom and in supporting students in meeting learning objectives related to design review skills. In particular, the research illustrated that the benefits of VR found in the construction industry in terms of improved communication, user involvement, and feedback collection could be translated into the classroom environment.

Research and applications related to Virtual Reality (VR) in the Architecture, Engineering, Construction and Facility Management (AEC/FM) industry are steadily increasing, being considered as one of the current trends in digital innovation. A convergence is currently on-going between Building Information Modelling (BIM), VR implementation and the soft landings principles, which highlight the need for a smooth transition from design to operation through the early involvement of clients and end-users. In particular, immersive virtual environments could allow stakeholders to experience the full-scale representation of a virtual facility prototype in an intuitive and engaging manner through immersion and sense of presence, promoting feedback collection during usability-focused design review meetings. On the other hand, despite the renewed interest in immersive VR, both technological and procedural challenges to its effective implementation still exist. The latter are within the scope of this study, which aims to address them in a systematic way as a comprehensive guideline for clients and design teams. This study describes the development of a VR-aided usability-focused design review session protocol for implementing immersive VR when clients and end-users are involved in design review meetings. It is the result of an inductive approach associated with qualitative research methods for data collection and data analysis. A case study has been selected as a main research method for facing the first step into the research problem. A further iteration of data collection and analysis was adopted to guarantee the validity of the research, including talks with experts and literature comparison. Finally, the session protocol has been developed in the form of a process map representing all the necessary phases and activities to consider for the effective adoption of immersive VR to evaluate design intents with clients and end-users. As a comprehensive summary, the session protocol fills a gap in the research on the adoption of virtual reality in the AEC industry, which was lacking a prescriptive and structured process to drive the effective use of this technology in collaborative meetings and decision-making processes.