Gerhard Schubert

Tangible Mixed Reality On-Site: Interactive Augmented Visualisations from Architectural Working Models in Urban Design

The consequences of architectural planning and design decisions made in the early design phases are hard to foresee. While professionals are used to reading plans and understanding architectural models, most laypeople are not familiar with their abstractions. This can lead to misinterpretations and misunderstandings between the different participants in the design process, especially in complex building situations, and decisions can be made or rejected that can have far-reaching consequences for the remainder of the project.

Demo] On-Site Augmented Collaborative Architecture Visualization

The early design phase for a new building is a crucial stage in the design process of architects. It has to be ensured that the building fits into the future environment. The Collaborative Design Platform targets this issue by integrating modern digital means with well known traditional concepts. Well-used styrofoam blocks are still cut by hand but are now tracked, placed and visualized in 3D by use of a tabletop platform and a TV screen showing an arbitrary view of the scenery. With this demonstration, we get one step further and provide an interactive visualization at the proposed building site, further enhancing collaboration between different audiences. Mobile phones and tablet devices are used to visualize marker-less registered virtual building structures and immediately show changes made to the models in the Collaborative Design laboratory. This way, architects can get a direct impression about how a building will integrate within the environment and residents can get an early impression about future plans.

Seamfully connected: Real working models as tangible interfaces for architectural design

This paper describes work conducted as part of an interdisciplinary research project into new approaches to using computer technology in the early phases of the architectural design process. The aim is to reduce the existing discrepancy between familiar, analogue ways of working in the early design stages and the increasingly widespread use of digital tools in office practice. Taking this as its starting point, a prototype for a design platform was developed. The core of the project is a direct, real-time connection between real volumetric models, an interactive 3D sketching-tool and interactive digital content that supports the design process. The conceptual and technical core of this connection is an integrated object recognition system. In this paper we describe the need for an integrated solution, the underlying conceptual idea and the recognition methods implemented including their respective strengths and limitations.

The collaborative design platform protocol: a protocol for a mixed reality installation for improved incorporation of laypeople in architecture

We present the conceptual design and implementation of the Collaborative Design Platform Protocol (CDPP), a communication protocol that offers the synchronisation of virtual worlds between two mixed reality peers. The CDPP is applied to connect the Collaborative Design Platform (CDP), a design tool which supports the architectural design process in an early stage, with the immersive Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE) display, where the design is visualised in life-size. This creates a prototype which enables a cost-efficient and easily comprehensible presentation of the early-staged design, and thus significantly simplifies the incorporation of laypeople in the early design process. By this means, the creative capabilities of laymen are exploited to a greater extent.

[DEMO] The collaborative design platform — A protocol for a mixed reality installation for improved incorporation of laypeople in architecture

Presentations and discussions between architects and clients during the early stages of design usually involve sketches, paper and models, with digital information in the form of simulations and analyses used to assess variants and underpin arguments. Laypeople, however, are not used to reading plans or models and find it difficult to relate digital representations to the real world. Immersive environments represent an alternative approach but are laborious and costly to produce, particularly in the early design phases where information and ideas are still vague. Our project shows, how linking analogue design tools and digital VR representation has given rise to a new interactive presentation platform that bridges the gap between analogue design methods and digital architectural presentation. The prototypical platform creates a direct connection between a physical volumetric model and interactive digital content using a large-format multi-touch table as a work surface combined with real-time 3D scanning. Coupling the 3D data from the scanned model with the 3D digital environment model makes it possible to compute design relevant simulations and analyses. These are displayed in real-time on the working model to help architects assess and substantiate their design decisions. Combining this with a 5sided projection installation based on the concepts Carolina Cruz Neiras CAVE Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE)1 offers an entirely new means of presentation and interaction. The design (physical working model), the surroundings (GIS data) and the simulations and analyses are presented stereoscopically in real-time in the virtual environment. While the architect can work as usual, the observer is presented with an entirely new mode of viewing. Different ideas and scenarios can be tried out spontaneously and new ideas can be developed and viewed directly in three dimensions. The client is involved more directly in the process and can contribute own ideas and changes, and then see these in user-centred stereoscopic 3D. By varying system parameters, the model can be walked through at life size.

Design Decision Support - Real-Time Energy Simulation in the Early Design Stages

Todays design teams have to consider many different parameters and design options from an early stage, which can ultimately have a significant impact on the final performance of the building. Simulations can be used to help design teams understand the consequences of the decisions they take and assess potential variants. In the early stages of the design process, however, the information needed to conduct accurate simulations is often lacking. To address this issue, we developed a new method for Design Decision Support (DDS) that makes it possible to run simulations based on vague and incomplete input data using a method called surrogate modelling which implements parametric simulation data as a quick response performance model for the early design phases. This method is based on parametric simulation models that contain the required information. Designers can use these models to obtain instant feedback on their design and suggestions for further improvements. In our implementation, we have linked this system to a multi-touch environment that links physical volumetric models with the surrogate models, allowing designers to employ familiar approaches to design thinking. This prototype provides designers with direct access to energy performance simulations in the early design stages. This will be expanded in the future to provide further simulations.