Louisville District Project Design Team members use virtual reality technology to improve the design process for future military construction internal design projects, Louisville, KY, Dec. 18, 2024.
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Louisville District and the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center are collaborating to innovate in the early stages of design development for new military construction projects , particularly the design of Fort Campbell’s unaccompanied enlisted personnel housing for Exercise 26. barracks.
“The FY26 Fort Campbell UEPH Barracks is the largest project in Louisville District military construction history designed by our in-house vertical design team, which places even greater emphasis on utilizing all tools and resources that we have to achieve the quality of the Louisville district. is known for,” said Maggie Thacher, architecture section head. “The Louisville District Design Branch is proud to support the Army’s initiatives to improve the quality of life for our nation’s Soldiers. »
The FY26 UEPH barracks is designed to accommodate 312 Soldiers and is one of three new barracks currently being designed at Fort Campbell for fiscal years 2026 through 2028 by the district’s internal design team.
“The goal is to integrate work into digital twin applications as a method to accelerate and improve design, design reviews and reduce labor issues,” said Brandon Meinert, research engineer at ERDC Information Technology Laboratory. “The current study, ongoing through March 2025, will leverage design deliverables for the internal design of the FY26 Fort Campbell UEPH Barracks project currently in production in accordance with USACE advanced modeling requirements. The evaluation will conclude with final documentation describing best practices and recommendations for each design stage.
Bob Hooe, Design Branch, Architectural Section Engineering Technician, demonstrates how the project design team uses VR technology to achieve their goals, Louisville, KY, December 18, 2024.
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The Louisville District project design team identified two primary goals for this research collaboration.
The first objective is to integrate the use of Navisworks, a 3D design review software, to leverage clash detection, a specialized process in building information modeling that detects incompatible overlaps of different building elements. The team received Navisworks training earlier this year, which will be used to generate more efficient and informative reports for strong collaboration between CAD/BIM technicians and the entire design team.
The second goal is to integrate virtual reality headsets, alongside traditional evaluation methods, to improve the design process and provide post-construction benefits. The team intends to use a VR headset for team collaboration meetings as the first line of conflict detection and for modeling issues alongside the design quality control review period. The team hopes that VR technology will provide long-term benefits by providing installation personnel performing post-construction building maintenance with detailed information about all areas of the building, particularly data relating to mechanical equipment rooms and electric.
“The team is embarking on interim design and hopes that brainstorming sessions, training and coordination of best practices will improve the overall mission of delivering quality projects, on time and on budget,” said Thacher said. “The collaboration will place the Louisville District at the forefront of this approach that embraces new technologies and explores the benefits of BIM and virtual reality.”