Architects and Virtual Reality

By Earl Hunsinger

Architects, like other artists, have always had to face the necessity of transferring a structure from the world of their imagination to the physical world of wood and nails, concrete and steel. Unlike other artists, this has posed a particular challenge for architects. Given the cost and effort involved in any substantial construction project, preliminary drawings or models have almost always proved necessary. Even these have at times been an imperfect medium for conveying the designer’s vision. In addition, the physical labor involved in drawing or model making has discouraged, or at least slowed down, any last minute alterations. Modern day CAD (computer aided design) systems have been a great boon to this creative process, allowing changes to be made in a matter of seconds.

While this has freed architects from the cumbersome process of putting pencil to paper to hand draw blueprints, at its inception CAD was simply an electronic replacement for pencil and paper. Only the physical process of recording the idea changed, the creative process remained virtually the same. Solid, three dimensional, fully formed structures created in the mind’s eye had to be represented in a two dimensional world. Three dimensional CAD has helped with this, in much the same way that scale models have benefited designers for centuries. What is the next step? What would close the gap between the design process and the drawing process?

Imagine sitting at your desk with your eyes closed and when you open them you are standing in the middle of a finished building. Can you see how it might be helpful to be able to walk through a building before a single nail is driven? This would allow not only the architect but also the future occupants to experience the space before it is built, to see what the view will be like, to analyze the traffic flow, and so on. This is the world of virtual reality. Crude forms of virtual reality have been around for years. How many of us have experienced the thrill of trying to fly an airplane with a (somewhat) realistic flight simulator program? Virtual reality has come a long way since the early days of flight simulators and other computer games. According to an article posted on the website of the Imperial College of London, both commercial airlines and the military now use immersive virtual reality flight simulators to train pilots.

In the same way, virtual reality is having a serious impact on other professions, including architecture. For those with the desire, but without the means, to visit famous buildings in other countries, virtual tours are now available. For example, The Art History Department of Williams College has virtual tours of several sites in Italy and Germany. The same technology is also being used to explore architectural structures that are no longer in existence. An example of this is the work being done by Northern New Mexico Architect Dennis Holloway to model ancient Anasazi sites.

Perhaps the most fascinating use of virtual reality in the field of architecture involves its use in actual design work. The site Architectural Design in Immersive Virtual Reality discusses this concept. CAD Digest also has several articles discussing the subject.

The technology has a long way to go, but imagine being able to design a building at full scale, from the inside. Imagine being able to stand on a virtual construction site and conjure up a building just by waving your hands. Imagine being able to stand in a virtual room and change its size and shape just by pointing a finger. Changing the materials and colors used for its surface treatments would be just as easy. Structural members could be discussed with construction personnel simply by peeling away virtual layers to see what lies beneath. At the same time, sophisticated computer programs would automatically calculate the stresses involved for any given choice of structural member, leaving the architect free to think creatively. Such technology will make it easier for designers to transfer what they see in their minds eye to a medium that can be seen by anyone. This will also change the design process itself, making it simpler to "experiment" with more imaginative ideas.

The architect of the future may feel that using pencil and paper to document a design is as archaic as drawing in the dirt. As with many new technologies, perhaps we have only scratched the surface of the changes that virtual reality will bring to architecture.