From: rwzobel@unity.ncsu.edu (Rick Zobel)
Subject: Re: Immersive Environments (VR) and Design
Organization: North Carolina State University Computing Center
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1992 13:39:39 GMT

ccav38@ccsun.strath.ac.uk ("I.Ballouz") writes:

>rwzobel@unity.ncsu.edu (Rick Zobel) writes:

>> (Stuff deleted...)

>>In talking to many people over the course of the past three
>>years, I have found very few people who are interested in
>>CGIE's as a potential medium for architectural design. I
>>know of several places using architecture as a medium through
>>which the virtual worlds technology hardware can be tested,
>>but not enough to be counted on one hand who are doing
>>work with architecture and using the hardware as the medium.

>I don't think that architects are not intrested in this topic, 
>on the contrary. However, the high cost of the systems involved 
>makes it difficult for the designers to use this technology 
>especially when it is being developed and refined as it is 
>happening now. You have to remember that most of the architectural 
>firms are small establishments with limited financial capabilities. 
>The inability of these firms to spend a lot on expensive 
>technology was one of the reasons that prevented architects of 
>being involved with CAD earlier. Only when the prices have fallen, 
>these firms were able to afford modest systems.
>
>In architecture schools, the case is even worse. There are not many
>schools where even drafting systems are availbale never mind the powerful
>systems required for virtual reality applications.

I agree completely that Virtual Worlds Technology is too
costly and too immature at this stage to be utilized at the
level of the private architecture firm. I also agree that
it is still at a point that it would not be effective in
the university level (in the design department) unless the
school could afford technical staff, or technical based
graduate students to be hired exclusivly as support staff
to run it. (This is changing quickly as tool-kits are being
created which bring access to the software aspects down to
a level where anyone with moderate programming experience
can create applications.) 

My statement that very few people are interested in the potential
of the technology stems from conversations where designers
stated that they "were not interested in what their design
really looked like, and the mind's eye picture they held was
the only 'true' embodiment of their design." I have had this
conversation more than once, believe it or not. My hope is
that these are just the views of paranoid designers who can
only justify their designs by convincing themselves and
others that their designs cannot be adequately visualized in
any medium, and thus can never be truely critiqued on their
ideas.

The argument that worries me more is that CGIE (VR) is "just
another type of computer graphics, and offers nothing new
to architecture or design." This is a prevalent attitude
among designers, especially in academia. Having spent many, many
hours inside immersive environments designing, experiencing
space, editing spaces and looking at it as a medium for
creative design, I would say that this medium has a great
deal to offer to architectural design above and beyond screen
based CAAD, 2D or 3D. The two most powerful additions
being the ability to experience space as we experience it in
the "real world", and allowing us the use of our normal interface
to the world to be used as the interface to the computer. This
combined with the ability to use this technology as an information
visualization tool (expert systems) sets this technology up
as a very powerful tool for designing and understanding architecture. 

I believe that this technology has the potential to fundamentally
change the way that architecture is designed, visualized and
critiqued within the next 20 years. It will be interesting
to see how this technology grows as it becomes more and
more affordable over the next few years.

There are a lot of major stumbling blocks that need to be 
examined before this new technology can be used effectively.
But we have the advantage that we are at the beginning of this
technology and its influence on Architecture, and can look
ahead at what should be and make it happen, rather than looking
back at what could have been...

Rick Zobel
NCSU School of Design
Architecture Department

From: kingsley@hpwrce.mayfield.hp.com (Kingsley Morse)
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 15:12:52 GMT
Subject: Re: Please Help
Organization: HP Western Response Center