Modern buildings are becoming increasingly complex, losing connection to the outdoor world from sealed windows to year-round airconditioning.
A spotlight is being cast on bringing the outdoors in, influencing healthier living in a generation that spends a majority of their time inside.
Skylights and roof windows company Velux is now using VR technology to communicate how skylights and lighting transform a home.
Its first VR-enabled showroom for skylight experience in Australia recently launched at 78 Henderson Rd, Alexandria and lets homeowners walk through the physical space while it is overlaid with one of four different virtual environments.
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A new Velux showroom demonstrates how skylights bring in natural light and fresh air
Users are shown Modern Industrial, Coastal, Mediterranean and Farmhouse interiors in the headset
The headset demonstrates how skylights reshape rooms through natural light and fresh air.
Inside the VR headset users see four styles’ furniture, fixtures and finishes shift to reflect the interior styles of Modern Industrial, Coastal, Mediterranean and Farmhouse.
The technology offers an opportunity to see how daylight alters form, colour and atmosphere with connection to the outdoors, including coastal ambience of waves crashing to birds flying above.
Natural light and clean air for healthy buildings is something the company is focusing on.
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Inside the VR headset visitors see how skylights transform a room with natural light and air
Velux Executive Vice President, North America, Europe and APAC Anders Dam Vestergaard said humans spend about 90 per cent of their time inside, often losing our connection to nature and the outdoors.
“On the bigger scale of things, it’s not homes its humanity,” he said.
“We are spending more or less our full working day inside, then drive home in our car – we go from the car to our homes. We have become the indoor generation.”
The modern lifestyle is influencing buildings as an of important asset to health.
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Anders Dam Verstergaard said skylights or roof windows is one important element in connection to the outdoors
Mr Dam Vestergaard said skylights or roof windows are one important element, along with design, materials, biophilic design and access to the outdoors.
“A skylight is a vertical aspirational limit, you start to look up,” he said.
“Looking up – it inspires curiosity, it inspires growth.
“Most homeowners and people have a very difficult time understanding what daylight through your roof can do to your home.
“We believe seeing and experiencing using a VR headset is closer to real life and if you have seen it, it’s very difficult not to see your home with skylights.”
There are also aspirations this technology will develop for access at home.
“I would love to have the same experience on a mobile phone, if you could as a homeowner take a picture of your roof as a family and instantly get a render with skylights in there,” Mr Dam Vestergaard said.
“If they want to have a better experience they can come to our showroom have a VR experience.”
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The showroom offers a chance to see how the connection to the outdoors transforms rooms
In Australia, global shifts in construction are colliding with on-the-ground pressures of higher-density housing, tighter building envelopes, rising energy costs and increasing scrutiny of indoor environmental quality.
As buildings become more efficient, the way daylight and ventilation are delivered is becoming a critical design and compliance consideration, not an optional extra.
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