Digital Prototyping and Augmented Reality Models for Studies of Architectural Design

Arne Riekstins

doi:10.5755/j01.sace.22.1.21255

Abstract

The communication of an architectural design project by default is the selling point of any idea when it is being presented to the clients. The use of advanced digital prototyping and virtual 3D models can facilitate the process of presentation significantly, because these technologies allow understanding features that are hard or impossible to present in drawings or pure renderings. CAD/CAM paradigm has set new standards in the field of teaching architectural design, as the contemporary practice has raised the demands for standard skillset expected from future architects once they graduate and enter the design offices. Digital systems that allow designing directly for manufacturing has returned the production and responsibility for giving engineering solutions back to architects. And parametricism in contemporary academic environment is one of the main driving forces of architecture that exercises the exploration of complexity, possible only through 3D modeling tools. Therefore the use of technology in representing complex ideas becomes a standard procedure. The author explores the implementation of physical and virtual models in architectural design curriculum – CNC and rapid prototyping or pure virtual models in format of augmented reality experience. Despite the time-intense learning curve of the additional specific tools and methods involved, there are more advantages to support the efforts of implementing new workflows in the studies of architectural design in as early stage as possible. Students who mastered these skills were able to reach better understanding of tangible and more logical structures in the way they conceptualized, and demonstrated to have more advanced 3D thinking and independence on making formal decisions. Both the physical and virtual models have their own strengths and weaknesses and neither one of them will totally eliminate the necessity of usage of each other. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.sace.22.1.21255

Highlights

Last decade has brought to the masses great hand-held devices in form of smartphones and tablets with good quality displays and cameras that can represent models in a more interactive virtual way through the augmented reality (AR) tools that can significantly reduce the costs on model making and in several cases even replace physical models as a paradigm
Full 1:1 prototyping in academic use is more rarely executed, as increasing up to full scale has much more material and structural engineering challenges to model making, so very often the 1:1 scale is being obtained by subdividing the object into smaller elements or assembly components, that are being assembled at the final stage
After a more in-depth analysis of physical vs. AR models we can conclude that neither of the two methods does completely eliminate each other of the modeling methods, and in a perfect real-life application they rather can complement to showcase the best elements of any design from a broader point of view

Summary

Introduction

To compare and analyze the application of physical vs AR models author integrated them in two different architectural design studio setups, one method per semester at University of Monterrey in Mexico. The application of AR was integrated in a studio of Architectural interior design taught at 5th study year, where during the semester students were making three different small projects and to present them – each project had a virtual model instead of a physical model. These two studio setups allowed comparing the features and pointing out several strengths and weaknesses of physical vs AR models

Methods

Discussion

Conclusions