Virtual Reality: First Person Design

Booster Blog

Virtual reALITY

Virtual reality is shaping, in a very literal sense, the way we interact with architecture. From the design stage to presenting ideas to clients, it seems that virtual reality has swung open a door for the advancement of architectural design.

Design

VRtisan, London based Visualisation studio, are pioneering methods that allow designers to create buildings whilst standing inside them. The use of game design technology paired with handheld motion controllers give designers the means to manifest what’s in their mind’s eye in real time and in real scale. With this tool, designs are no longer limited to blue prints or even computer screens. Designers can trust their intuitive spatial awareness as they explore the space for themselves.

Details such as textures, colours and materials can be tested and tweaked in real time as the designer ‘plays’ with the environment in first person. The opportunity to create a design at eye-level holds some exciting benefits to the process.

With a full scale, real time interaction, dimensional and ergonomic relationships can be developed more thoroughly than ever before. Ideas can be played with, opening a space for any range of architectural fantasies to be trailed and explored.

Analysis of User Feedback

As virtual reality technology becomes more viable in the realm of architecture, engineers have started exploring how it could improve the functionality of their products. A 3D visualisation company named InsiteVR has launched some software that equips architects with an interesting tool. By tracing the line of sight of a user whilst they explore a design in virtual reality, the software offers valuable research to architects.

Their focus and information is logged and presented as heat maps that show distribution of attention.This system has some great implications for design. For instance, the software could be used to improve wayfinding strategies for large structures, such as hospitals or airports. It could also improve the efficiency of signs by measuring how long it takes subjects to find them, and how often it leads them correctly.

These two recent innovations show us the early stages of virtual reality in design. From here on the gates are swung wide open to a landscape of endless possibilities. Are you ready for a virtual reality?