A BIM-based educational gaming prototype for undergraduate research and education in design for sustainable aging

This paper discusses an educational gaming prototype developed with building information modeling (BIM) inputs that aims to facilitate undergraduate education and research in the subject of design for sustainable aging. Motivated by the steadily growing market demands for senior housing in conjunction of academic goals in graphical communication and building codes education, experiments have been conducted in an undergraduate construction management curriculum seeking for innovative pedagogical approaches. The integration of BIM and game engine creates a meaningful learning environment and research framework that features with enriched visualization and interaction wherein students can explore design criteria and code compliance requirements of senior-friendly housing design via task-driven gaming simulation. This paper introduces the theoretic framework, the design approach, and the developed prototype with use case demonstrations. Initial assessment and user feedback are discussed for further improvement on the developed prototype.