Stepping inside the dream in Mayo
Ballina entrepreneur helps self-builders see their future home before a single block is laid
For anyone who has ever built a home, there comes a moment when the plans spread across the kitchen table stop feeling reassuring and start feeling daunting. Building a home is a once-in-a-lifetime project. Months are spent poring over floor plans, choosing layouts and making decisions that will shape everyday life for years to come.
Will the kitchen be big enough? Is there enough space in the utility room? Will the furniture fit where you imagined it would? And perhaps most importantly, will the home work the way you hoped once the walls go up?
That challenge inspired Mayo entrepreneur Lorna Conlon to launch The WalkThru Studio, a new business using immersive virtual reality technology to allow homeowners to walk through their future homes before construction begins.
Based in Ballina and serving clients nationwide, The WalkThru Studio transforms traditional house plans into life-sized 3D walkthrough experiences, giving clients the opportunity to experience room layouts, proportions and flow long before foundations are poured.
For Lorna, the idea grew from personal experience.
“After going through a self-build myself and helping family members through theirs, I realised how difficult it can be to truly understand a home from plans alone,” she explains.
“Everything can look right on a floor plan, but problems often only become obvious once construction starts and you see the walls going up. At that stage, changes become expensive and sometimes impossible.”
With more than 14 years’ experience in the geospatial and digital engineering sector, specialising in 2D and 3D modelling and visualisation, Lorna recognised an opportunity to bring technology commonly used on large infrastructure projects into the residential market.
The process is straightforward. Clients provide their architectural drawings, which are transformed into a detailed 3D model. They then put on a VR headset and physically walk through kitchens, bedrooms, living rooms and utility spaces at true scale.
The experience often reveals things that simply cannot be spotted on paper.
“Most people don’t have experience reading technical drawings,” says Lorna. “It’s very hard to understand what a room measuring ten by ten actually feels like. People struggle to visualise circulation space, furniture placement or whether a room will function the way they want it to.”
One of the most common issues she encounters involves room proportions and everyday functionality.
“People often underestimate spaces like utility rooms, storage areas and circulation space,” she said. “We had one client realise their laundry room was far too small once they walked through it virtually. They couldn’t properly open the washing machine door without it hitting the wall. It’s a small issue on paper but a daily frustration in real life.”
While practical considerations are important, there is also an emotional element to the experience. Lorna says many clients become visibly excited when they first step into their future home through the headset.
“You can see their faces light up. After all the planning, paperwork and expense, it’s often the first time they truly feel connected to the project,” Lorna says. “They’re no longer looking at lines on a page; they’re standing inside their future home.”
The kitchen is often the room that generates the biggest reaction.
“People love seeing their future kitchen and living space for the first time,” she says. “They immediately start imagining how they’ll use the space and whether it works for their family.”
While the technology may sound futuristic, Lorna believes it addresses a very practical problem.
“Building a home is one of the biggest investments most people will ever make, and often it’s something they’ll only do once,” she said. “Being able to walk through that space before construction starts gives them confidence that they’re making the right decisions.”
As construction costs continue to rise, she believes virtual walkthroughs will become a standard part of the home-building process.
For now, her focus is helping homeowners make confident decisions before the first block is laid. Although the business is only recently launched, the response has been encouraging.
Her advice to anyone planning a home is simple.
“Take your time and think about how you actually live day to day. Don’t just follow trends. Your home should work for you, both now and years into the future.”
With technology helping bridge the gap between imagination and reality, The WalkThru Studio is giving Mayo self-builders — and homeowners across Ireland — the chance to step inside the dream before it becomes concrete.
You can learn more about the WalkThru Studio on their website.