3D Interior Design Application

A multi-platform app built with BabylonJS and Vue.js, with outstanding UX and UI.

The company and product

Extradom is a platform that specializes in architectural and real estate advisory for the selection and purchase of a house design.

It provides proprietary tools and applications: iDesigner, a 3D house creator application, and a free house design comparison engine.

The company was established in 2000 and created the first social networking site for people who build houses, a community of over 600,000 users. Extradom offers around 20 thousand house plans with their respective budget and material list, and also developed a map of house construction in Poland.

Client’s feedback

Sławomir Hyliński

PRODUCT OWNER AT EXTRADOM.PL

Extensive knowledge and experience

Building a 3D Web app is an extremely complicated case, requiring both extensive knowledge and experience. Monterail proved to live up to our expectations in using BabylonJS and providing a full-service experience. Due to their business-wise approach, we were able to answer questions which we wouldn’t have asked on our own. And the support from the tech lead was impressive. I would recommend Monterail to all our partners and people from the industry.

The Challenge

Extradom is one of the biggest players in the Polish architecture industry. In 2017, they wanted to build a 3D interior design web application.

Given their approach to business, we knew they needed a truly customer-oriented solution to achieve their goals.

The app development needs included stability of the app, shiny UX/UI, and integration with external assets via a REST API. Furthermore, the application was supposed to be accessible online on every modern operating system and browser without installation.

Key challenges of the project included:

Delivering a stable, multi-platform web application easily accessible online.
Building 2D and 3D workspaces providing real-life visualizations—a key part of any interior design app.
Handling user-friendly workspaces, data flow, and integration with e-commerce platforms.

extradom application screenshot

The Process

It was certain from the very beginning that an app of this size and complexity demanded a powerful framework.

Without much pondering, we chose Vue.js for the frontend. It makes data management easy; even when dealing with big and complex creations like iDesigner.

Considering the app’s visual nature, top-tier UX/UI tied with the design would be key to its success. We decided to go with BabylonJS, one of the best 3D engines out there. This setup helped us maintain stability and high performance on every platform the users might access from.

We were able to meet the Product Owner frequently at our office. We dissected all the pressing issues, planned iterations, and conducted discovery workshops during which we went through the app development process step-by-step.

All of these insights combined contributed to the vision for the new product.

Our core efforts at this stage included:

Frontend development with BabylonJS, Vue.js.
Facilitating development by using the Virtual DOM and the Entity System.
Verifying business hypotheses and planning the scope using the Agile development method.

Team’s voice

Krzysztof Jung

SENIOR FRONTEND DEVELOPER

Vue.js gave us the flexibility

Vue.js has once again proven that it’s capable of handling even very complex projects. It allowed us to build an app with an unusual architecture and was highly flexible in the process. Leading such a project was truly a unique experience and a breath of fresh air offering an opportunity to face new challenges.

The Outcome

In less than eight months, we managed to release the MVP of the web application within established deadlines and according to project-specific requirements.

The application works smoothly while the implemented UX and UI solutions provide an easy and enjoyable experience. Going with Vue.js as the library of choice for building the UI, turned out to be a good choice, as it solved our data flow issues.

Even in its early days, iDesigner quickly gained a four-digit group of active users and become one of the key selling points of Extradom. In October 2018, one of such events was Extradom’s acquisition by the Wirtualna Polska group for $19.8M.

By integrating iDesigner with external assets, Extradom was able to engage in close cooperation with e-commerce platforms which opened doors to many future cross-industry mergers.

The success of this project hinged on the following factors:

Choosing powerful frameworks to build the app.
A well-thought-out approach and technology solutions, resulting in a stable software product.
Beautiful UX and UI, providing clients with a unique interior design experience.