A 26-year-old Melbourne entrepreneur has taken the guess work out of buying a property off the plan or understanding what your renovation may look like.
Chris Farace of Viara
Chris Farace has used computer game technology and added it to existing software to provide a much more realistic look at a yet-to-be-built property through his software called Viara. And to take it one step further, consumers can use any smart phone or tablet, Google Cardboard, Samsung’s VR Goggles or Facebook’s Oculus rift technology to ‘walk around their home’ before it is built.
“I was pretty surprised no one else had used gaming technology before as it is so much more advanced,” Farace said.
“And to add the virtual reality and augmented reality components are really exciting and something I think consumers will not only want in the future but demand.”
“We have already had consumers use it and make changes to their designs. It has saved them thousands of dollars.”
Farace said architects will still create their models as they do normally using their 3D software but Viara adds the final 360 deg hosting and tour configuration.
Eventually Farace wants consumer to ask “do you have a Viara tour available”.
“It’s ok for those in the real estate industry such as architects to be able to read a one-dimensional plan to get an idea of what a house or apartment will look like but consumers aren’t like that.
With Viara, if you don’t like the way a wall looks, move it or paint it a different colour. Stone bench tops aren’t big enough? At least you know now and can order a larger one.
“To actually walk through a yet-to-be-built bedroom or living room will eliminate risk and give consumers so much more information which is vital when making some of the biggest purchases of their lives.”
Farace said there are other products on the market that provide a fly through experience “but it is nowhere near as interactive or realistic as it is by using gaming’s much improved technology which, in laymen’s terms, takes a lot of distortion and stretching out of the images, while still maintaining the realistic lighting which is the secret key to realistic visualisation”.
He has already had considerable success with Viara with major builder Carter Grange trialling it, as well as being used by Chadstone Shopping Centre, Caribbean Business Park and the Victorian School Building Authority as part of the $2.5 billion invested by the state government for schooling infrastructure.
“Nearly everyone I have shown it to can not believe what they see is not a photograph as Viara looks so real. It really takes the guess work out of buying off the plan or renovating – and for some people that will save them thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
Farace says he has also been able to keep the cost of Viara competitive because his team is small and nimble and his overheads are low.
He has financed the entire project himself, although may look at an injection of funds down the track as Viara has the potential to be used globally.
Farace came up with his idea while working in New York where he managed a web and app development company.
“That’s when it hit home to me that there must be a better way of exploring off the plan property before it is built, considering how much money people were spending on renovations and yet-to-be-built apartments.”
Farace started and manages design company Bamco Studio, the sixth business he has set up.
He began his entrepreneurial life at 16 when he began teaching drum lessons at lunchtime at school – undercutting his music teacher by half.
He then began importing and selling musical instruments – and still loves playing most weekends in corporate bands and for musical artists as a professional drummer.
For now though his focus is on Viara and being able to provide consumers with ground-breaking technology that could well be the only way we buy off-the-plan properties in the future.
The word Viara is a play on the acronym “VR” and also stands for Virtual and Integrated Augmented Reality for Architecture.
For more information go to www.bamcostudio.com.