The Current State and Future Trajectory of VR/AR in Construction: 24 Shades of Reality

Abstract

Objective: The construction industry faces persistent challenges in managing complex project information, ensuring safety, coordinating distributed teams, and minimizing costly errors. Extended reality (XR) technologies—virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR)—have emerged as transformative tools that fundamentally change how construction professionals visualize, interact with, and manage building projects. This systematic review synthesizes current knowledge on XR applications in building construction, examining their benefits, implementation challenges, and integration with Building Information Modeling (BIM) systems across the project lifecycle.