Mixed reality to enable construction design comprehension for digital natives

The median age of a construction professional has been increasing over the past decade, recently approaching 41 years old. Current reports indicate that more workers are retiring than those entering the industry, leading to an imminent and severe labor shortage. One way of countering the effects of those problems is through attracting younger talent into the industry. One key descriptive of the current young generation is being "digital natives", individuals who have lived their entire life during times of technological advancements. BIM, building information modeling, defined as the development and use of a 3D virtual model containing both physical and functional information, is increasingly adopted for its numerous benefits during design and construction. Researchers have suggested numerous emerging technologies to complement the use of BIM, especially on the construction site. One technology is mixed reality, MR, which enables the viewing of virtual content in the user's field of view. Prior research theorized that viewing designs through MR may enable design communication to trained professionals. This paper explores whether MR can communicate BIM content in a simple enough manner that individuals, without any prior construction experience, could successfully construct the intended building elements. An industry generated BIM is viewed by middle school students through an MR device, and their behavior and design understanding is presented. Specific aspects of design comprehension and participants perceptions are also studied. This paper contributes to the body of knowledge by empirically showing that digital natives can comprehend and build designs using only MR without need for prior training, supplementing the shortage of labor faced in the industry by accelerating their integration into the workforce.