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School of Engineering

Building information modelling and virtual reality laboratory

This facility is used for BIM based integrated/collaborative design and large scale optimisation/decision making for water, energy and infrastructure management.

The cutting edge resources based on site aid the BRE Trust Centre for Sustainable Engineering in researching and designing a new generation of digital buildings that have lifelong resilience and adaptability to their environment, usage and occupancy.

Primary areas of focus include smart materials and products, virtual manufacturing and supply chain management, building intelligence, energy and sustainability and comfort, health and well-being.

Technical features

  • Private Cloud Computing Infrastructure (STONEPC-1210) can provide 200+ CPU cores, about 1 Terabit shared memory, 10+ Terabit storage and 10 Gigabit main Internet connection speeds. It includes 18 computing nodes and 3 management nodes.
  • Touch Wall 92” – 2 x 2 (46” near seamless displays) is an interactive video wall. 2 units high x 2 units wide including “daisy chain boards” & multi touch overlay. (UT92/IVW/IR/20T). Supporting computing infrastructure provides 3D/nD BIM based IPD (Integrated Project Delivery) using universal shared single model for building / infrastructure.
  • Virtual Reality Environment Digital Projection M-Vision Cine 3D; a whole set of 3D glasses and special hamlet devices, a high end 3D projector, and a Kinect based computer game system (sensors and etc.) with necessary accessories.

Practical applications

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is increasingly important in government policy and strategic initiatives globally, and the internationally recognised research at Cardiff University plays a key role in the development of the field.

Current projects include but are not limited to ‘Resilient’ (low carbon intelligent energy management at district level), ‘WISDOM’ (efficient water use and reuse), ‘Mas2tering’ (management of low-voltage distribution grids), ‘PERFORMER’ (building energy management and guaranteed energy performance) and ‘M4L’ (biomimetic multi-scale damage immunity for construction materials).