Spatial Solutions and Solution Spaces: The use of Virtual and Augmented Reality in Design Exploration

Abstract

The recent wave of Virtual and Augmented Reality (VAR) technologies has coincided with new technologies for processing, analyzing and evaluating large amounts of data. In general, the purpose of Data Visualization is to enable the user to discover and understand patterns in data. Good visualizations present large amounts of data in a way that is easily understood, and good interactive visualizations promote intuitive means of exploring relationships. Over the past few years many researchers have looked into the development of immersive Virtual Environment platforms for Big Data visualization, such as, iViz (Donalek et al, 2014) and the work carried out by Masters of Pie and Lumacode for the Big Data VR Challenge in 2016 (Lumapie, 2016). Filtering, combination and scaling have all been identified elsewhere as important interactive techniques used in contemporary data visualization (Olshannikova et al, 2015). Of these, scaling may be the most familiar to architects: for centuries, designers have attempted to experience architectural space in different scales simultaneously, by using models at different scales (Yaneva, 2005), and by employing various drawing techniques to achieve an embodied perception of the designed space. With the use of VAR technologies this becomes easier than ever. At the same time, designers increasingly must understand not just the experience of a design proposal but also the data associated with it