Housing shortage in Utrecht and in the Netherlands has always been a topic spoken about. This crisis particularly affects students, young people, and the people with lower income who can’t be listed on social housing. It is not dramatic as it is in some parts of the world where people are living on the streets. Although, the stress of finding a place still affects many. Most of the time newly developed residential properties are rented or sold before they are even built.
With the help of technology, BAM Wonen sheds light on the future of housing through the use of augmented reality. This piece of technology will be used towards the ongoing construction of the Leidsche Rijn district. BAM Wonen is a company that sells living facilities, products and services with innovation and sustainability
Leidsche Rijn Project
The Leidsche Rijn is the latest and largest new building project in the Netherlands. It is located in the Leidsche Rijn and Vleuten-De Meern districts in Utrecht. The project is expected to be completed by 2021. It consists of 33,000 homes and an approximation of 100,000 people will be living in them.
Technology use of the construction of Leidsche Rijn
With the help of technology, hope has been given to home seekers. BAM Wonen is using augmented reality to open new perspectives and views to local and potential new tenants. The augmented reality shows the end result before it is even finished. BAM has showed the impression of a building with animations, but the company decided to take it a step further. The augmented reality works by combining the building plans with reality. This showcases the result of the building when standing in front of the construction site.
“The technology helps especially with long-term projects as we see that there are a lot of questions. It is also good to anticipate and let people discover for themselves what is going to be built,” says John Schouten, Deputy Director of BAM Wonen. “Young people want to see what the building will be like. Now, we can show them the future building simply through a QR code. They can even walk around the building”.
A solution to the housing shortage
The apartments in Leidsche Rijn are being built for young people and starters who have difficulties finding a home. Organizations such as The Change wants to create affordable housing for this target group. “It is an intrinsically motivated target group who want to make something out of life. That often does not work because they cannot find good housing. Therefore they can not get into the rhythm of work,” explains Bas Maingay project development director of Change. “We want it to be affordable but also have all the facilities around them to thrive.”
Source: RTV Utrecht and BAM Wonen
Post published on Utrecht Central
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