Augmented Reality in the Construction Industry: An Industry's Perspective of Its Users, Phases, and Future Trends

Construction plays an important role in the prosperity of nations and is expected to grow to new heights in the next decade. This significant expansion along with the increased complexity and sophistication of construction projects and rapid technological advances of Industry 4.0 highlights the pressing need for improvement in the construction industry. Consequently, construction companies have turned to innovative techniques to remain competitive and to grow in the modern market. Among the different Industry 4.0 technologies, industrial interest in augmented reality (AR) has increased in the past decade, across sectors including automotive, aerospace, marketing, gaming, and others. Construction has begun to follow suit in this area. Various researchers have explored how AR can be integrated in construction, but no research project has yet comprehensively investigated who benefits the most from AR and where the technology is most useful. Using 128 responses collected from industry practitioners, this paper explores the integration of AR among different construction stakeholders and throughout the entire lifecycle of a construction project. Results showed that architects/engineers and project engineers are perceived to benefit the most from AR and that the technology is expected to be used the most during design, pre-construction planning, construction, and conceptual planning phases. The paper also provides insights into the future adoption of AR by construction stakeholders and by the industry as a whole.