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Home Architectural Visualization Top 5 AR/VR Firms

Architectural Visualization

Top 5 AR/VR Firms

AR is an interactive experience that augments and superimposes a user's physical environment with computer-generated input. AR is the overlay of 3D digital building or building component models integrated with data onto real-world settings in architecture.

Elif Ayse Sen4 February 20235 Mins read441

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AR/VR firms are studios that build augmented and virtual reality tools for architecture, letting designers and clients walk through a building before it is constructed. These firms turn 3D models into immersive walkthroughs, on-site AR overlays, and shared design reviews that cut errors and speed up client approvals.

What Are AR and VR in Architecture?

Augmented reality places computer-generated content over a real environment. In practice, an architect points a phone, tablet, or headset at an empty lot and sees a full-scale building model standing where the structure will go. The surroundings stay real, and the digital model sits inside them.

Virtual reality replaces the physical view entirely. A VR architectural walkthrough gives a 360-degree picture of a space, so a client can sense scale, light, and proportion long before the foundation is poured. Tools like Enscape, founded in 2013, helped make headset-based reviews a normal part of design work rather than a novelty.

Augmented reality in architecture — AR overlays a digital model onto a real site through a phone, tablet, or headset.

How AR and VR Differ

The two technologies solve related problems in different ways. The distinctions matter when a firm decides which tool fits a given project stage.

AR keeps you grounded in your real surroundings, while VR puts you inside a fully simulated space controlled by the system.
VR usually needs a headset, while AR often runs on a standard smartphone or tablet.
AR blends digital and physical context for on-site decisions, while VR is better for early-stage spatial review and remote presentations.

For more on how immersive tools fit into broader practice, see our overview of architectural technology and design.

How AR/VR Technologies Are Changing Architectural Practice

Immersive technology has reshaped how studios design, model, and communicate. The biggest gains show up in client presentations, where a walkthrough answers questions that flat renderings cannot. When a client can stand inside a lobby and feel the ceiling height, decisions happen faster and revisions drop.

Engineer using AR glasses on site — On-site AR lets teams check a model against real conditions before work starts.

These tools help across the full project cycle, not just the pitch. Clients and architects can adjust a design before construction starts, which lowers cost, saves time, and reduces mistakes on site. Most large architectural practices in the United States now build VR and AR into their workflow, and the demand has pushed specialist studios to grow worldwide. CAD models can be turned into photorealistic renderings and AR scenes, moving a 3D building from the screen into the real world quickly.

📌 Did You Know?

Autodesk acquired the VR design-review platform The Wild in March 2022 and later folded its technology into Autodesk Workshop XR. The move signaled that major software vendors now treat immersive review as core to the architecture and construction toolkit rather than an experiment.

If you want to see how VR shifts the design process itself, our piece on the impact of virtual reality on architectural design covers it in more depth.

Top 5 AR/VR Firms for Architecture and Immersive Design

Augmented reality trends — A growing field of specialist studios now build AR and VR tools for the built environment.

The studios below stand out for their work in augmented and virtual reality, from brand-driven immersive experiences to design-review platforms built for architects. The table gives a quick view before the detailed profiles.

Comparison of the Top AR/VR Firms

Firm	Base	Main Focus
NEXT/NOW	Chicago, USA	Immersive experience design and brand activations
Groove Jones	Dallas, USA	Award-winning XR, AR, VR, and AI development
Queppelin	USA and India	AR/VR apps and enterprise AI solutions
The Intellify	USA, Germany, India	AR, VR, metaverse, and AI product engineering
The Wild (Autodesk)	USA	VR/AR collaboration built for architecture and AEC

NEXT/NOW

NEXT/NOW is an innovation agency focused on experience design for organizations that want to stand out. The team builds immersive experiences, brand activations, and emerging-technology projects rooted in strategy rather than spectacle. For architecture and real estate clients, that translates into interactive installations and AR or VR pieces that help people understand a space or concept. You can review their work at nextnow.agency.

Groove Jones

Founded in 2015 in Dallas, Groove Jones has grown into one of the more decorated XR studios in the field, with Event Marketer EX Gold, Shorty, Clio, and Digiday awards to its name. The studio builds augmented reality, virtual reality, machine learning, WebGL, and spatial-computing projects, including apps for Apple Vision Pro. Its mix of AR and VR work suits architecture and property clients who need polished, public-facing immersive experiences. See more at groovejones.com.

💡 Pro Tip

When you brief an AR/VR firm, hand over clean, well-organized model files from the start. Heavy, ungrouped geometry from Revit or SketchUp often has to be rebuilt for real-time use, which adds days to a project. Optimizing the model before handoff keeps both the timeline and the budget under control.

Queppelin

Queppelin has more than a decade of experience building AR and VR applications, and it now pairs that work with enterprise AI. The team has shipped metaverse and immersive projects for large clients, built VR training systems for factory staff, and created AR platforms for museums and retailers. That breadth makes the firm a fit for studios that want both visualization and longer-term digital tools. Their site is queppelin.com.

The Intellify

The Intellify builds feature-rich, business-specific apps using augmented reality, virtual reality, AR filters, 3D modeling, and animation, now alongside a strong AI practice. With offices across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and India, the firm works with clients from startups to large enterprises and has delivered a large portfolio of immersive and AI-driven products. Learn more at theintellify.com.

The Wild

The Wild is the most architecture-specific name on this list. The platform lets AEC teams import models from Revit, SketchUp, and BIM 360, then meet inside a shared virtual space to review a design together, across Meta Quest, desktop, and AR on iOS. Acquired by Autodesk in 2022, its technology now also powers Autodesk Workshop XR for design review. For firms that want collaboration rather than a one-off presentation, it is a practical pick. See thewild.com.

How to Choose the Right AR/VR Firm

Match the studio to the job. If you need a high-impact installation for a sales gallery or a launch event, an experience-led agency like NEXT/NOW or Groove Jones fits well. If your priority is design review and team coordination on live projects, a platform built for architects, such as The Wild, will save more time. For ongoing tools that combine visualization with training or AI, Queppelin and The Intellify both carry deep app-development experience.

Ask each firm for case studies in the built environment, confirm which file formats and headsets they support, and check whether they hand you a finished asset or an ongoing platform. Industry resources like ArchDaily coverage of virtual reality and augmented reality in architecture are useful for seeing how peers apply these tools on real projects.

Where to Go From Here

Your Next Step: Pick one upcoming project and decide whether AR, VR, or a shared review platform would help the client most, then shortlist two firms from this list and request a built-environment case study from each before you commit.

Written by

Elif Ayse Sen

Elif Ayse Sen is a senior architecture writer at illustrarch. A trained architect with a B.Arch from Altınbaş University, she covers interior design, architecture schools and education, and residential design, and has written hundreds of articles for the publication.