VR Architecture Design Process in Transformation: Big Data Era

This report examines the integration of Virtual Reality (VR) in the architectural design process, focusing on how VR technology and big data are reshaping the field. It investigates the use of VR to create a multidisciplinary platform that incorporates ecological, environmental, and socio-economic data, enhancing the design process. The research explores how VR can improve participatory design among architects, clients, and future users, facilitating better communication and understanding through immersive visualization. The methodology includes literature reviews, case studies, and qualitative research, such as interviews with participants, to assess the application and impact of VR in architectural projects. The report also presents case studies showcasing the practical applications of VR in architectural projects, and it concludes with a discussion of findings and the future potential of VR in architecture, emphasizing the importance of innovative design strategies to address complex challenges.

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VR ARCHITECTURE DESIGN PROCESS IN TRANSFORMATION: ROLE OF
VIRTUAL REALITY IN THE AGE OF BIG DATA
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Student’s Name
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Professor’s Name
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VR Architecture Design Process In Transformation 2
Table of Contents
ABSTRACT...............................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................4
Concept of VR technology.....................................................................................................4
Why Virtual Reality?.................................................................................................................4
Appraisal of Various Traditional and VR Tools....................................................................5
RESEARCH QUESTIONS........................................................................................................6
METHODOLOGY.....................................................................................................................8
Method Conecpt.....................................................................................................................9
Study Group............................................................................................................................9
Implementation Process..........................................................................................................9
Data Collection.....................................................................................................................11
Student Questions.............................................................................................................11
Profession Questions.........................................................................................................12
Client Questions................................................................................................................12
Research Method..................................................................................................................13
Paper Retrieval..................................................................................................................13
LITERATURE REVIEW.........................................................................................................14
Why Should Architects Use VR...........................................................................................14
Drawing and Modelling: 2D To 3D.....................................................................................15
Visualisation And VR...........................................................................................................17
VR today...............................................................................................................................18
VR Measurement, Surveying and Drawing Skills............................................................19
Site Surveying...................................................................................................................20
Architectural Technology Design Project.........................................................................22
Town and Country Planning Project.................................................................................24
VR Appliaction on the Built Envirnment for the Architects............................................25
CASE STUDY.........................................................................................................................27
Cases Study 1: VR Project in Western Australia EXPLORER PARK- Sienna wood.........27
Case Study 2: Design reviews and decision-making using collaborative virtual reality
prototypes; a case study of the large-scale MK3 project......................................................29
Case Study 3: VR/AR healthcare facility design and Enhancement....................................31
VR Technology Concept..................................................................................................32
Process and Application....................................................................................................33
AR and the Future of VR..................................................................................................35

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DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION......................................................................................35
Results of the Interview........................................................................................................35
Discusions of the Findings...................................................................................................40
Conclusion............................................................................................................................44
References................................................................................................................................47

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VR Architecture Design Process In Transformation 5

VR Architecture Design Process In Transformation 6
ABSTRACT
The thesis explores the use of VR technology during the design process of VR architecture.
Today, VR architecture is going to be a significant intersection of various disciplines such as
ecology, social, economic and environmental issues. This intersection increases the
complexity of the design process in VR architecture, and the conventional approaches cannot
sufficiently support this complexity of ecological and societal problems to reach suitable
solutions. Therefore, VR architects must explore new design strategies that can accommodate
the complex issues facing the profession today. According to this discretion, the main goal of
this paper is to present a strategy to use the Virtual Reality (VR) to combine the human
interaction with large-scale environmental data flow in the design process of VR architecture.
The research aims to create a platform in VR to enable the designer and the future users of
VR architecture projects to actively understand and interact with the hidden layers (datasets)
of the site. The perception, engagement and imagination with general data will open up new
possibilities for revealing the relevance of datasets concerning design.

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INTRODUCTION
Concept of VR technology
VR stands for Virtual Reality, which was proposed by Jaron Lanier, founder of VPL
Research Company in 1989. It has a history of more than 20 years. The technology works by
creating a computer system with multiple senses of sight, hearing, touch, and so on. Users
immerse themselves in the operation of a virtual environment with various hardware devices
and interact with the virtual environment, thus causing real-time changes in the virtual
environment. Virtual reality is a computer system that can create and experience the Virtual
World. A Virtual world is the whole of a Virtual Environment or a given simulation object
(Wang et al. 2013 p.37).
Why Virtual Reality?
Images, text and videos drive the communicational world. With video, we can have more
information about a work of VR architecture, much more than you can in merely a photo or
text. With video, we can get a sense of the sight, sound, and feel of a place. We can see
people interacting with the design, bringing it to life. Virtual reality takes this video to the
next level. As you move your VR headset, you control your experience in the VR. It will
closely mimic the experience of exploring a place in person. It recreates that immerse sense
of being theirs.
VR architects typically employ creative design processes to explore and evaluate ideas during
the design stages of the planning cycle. Exploration, critical evaluation and exchange of ideas
are essential parts of this method.

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Appraisal of Various Traditional and VR Tools
Several tools can facilitate exploration, communication and evaluation of ideas, each with
different strengths and weaknesses. How does VR compare to traditional tools in practice?
These are some crucial aspects of the design process which VR can potentially change:
 High levels of exploration/richness
 The number of factors that can be taken into account
 The quality/accuracy of site information
 Overall time expenditure/efficiency
Table 1 Comparison of methods for evaluating and communicating design decisions
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1. How could VR make a multi-disciplinary platform include various data from ecological
and environmental to socio-economic issues for VR designers?
2. How could VR increase the participatory design between designers, clients, future users
in the design process of VR architecture?

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How could VR make a multi-disciplinary platform include various data from ecological
and environmental to socio-economic issues for VR designers?
The VR architects have to face a high level of complexity in designs when dealing with
forces, such as water, wind, tidal activity and changes of season, and their influence on
vegetation and geology over time. The VR architecture profession is to assert itself in
multidisciplinary cooperation in an era marked by profound ecological change and increasing
digitalisation; a new path needs to be established in planning and designing.
The rapid growth of cities and urban sprawl, require strategies that can integrate datasets with
geographical, sociological, ecological, and infrastructural factors into planning and design.
Architects are needed to generate a new computational workflow by creating multiple
platforms to communicate and exchange data information and design strategies. Original
thinking is often the first step towards innovation. Pioneering computational and
experimental approaches are particularly needed in the increasingly complex field of
architecture and urbanism (Cheng and Teizer 2013 p.3).
If one takes a look at the mixed reality of the '60s, it is interesting to observe, that they were
having a clear vision for the integration of the technology. The technological aspect was not
merely in the forefront instead of the innovative usage. Relating this virtual reality with the
field of architecture and architecture there is a secure connection recognisable. Designing is
genuinely tight to expressing and experimenting in the virtual, projecting the near future or a
fictive vision of the future. The space created in reality is like a parallel dimension in the
imaginary virtual, influencing and inspiring the user. By merely using the current VR
technology for imitating the real in the virtual, we are losing a vast potential of the
technology (Jiao et al. 2013 p.37).

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The research examines possibilities enabling direct handling of data in the design process for
perception and storytelling purposes within VR. The development of a methodological
framework that should enhance the potential of architecture by focussing on computational
design methodologies within the realm of VR is the focus of the exploration. The designer
should influence and steer the output with direct feedback to achieve an integrated design
process. Present the representation of datasets can easily be, incorrectly interpreted, often
inadvertently or purposefully used to influence the design process. The exploration of
immersive interaction technologies opens up a new field for interacting and reinterpreting the
flow of data to create audio-visual interaction spaces that will open a variety of ways to help
understand the changes in our living environment (Biocca and Levy 2013).
How could VR increase the participatory design between designers, clients, future users
in the design process of architecture?
The benefits of VR for the participatory design were examined by studying the designers,
clients, and future users’ perception of the different variants designed for the projects.
Communicating Design Ideas by Using Virtual Reality
The two-way communication between designers, clients and future users is needed to avoid
misunderstanding and minimise mistakes in projects. The communication is completed by
visualisation of ideas both in 2D format and through 3D visualisation. The visualisation of
design idea can be created by using hand drawings and miniature models, and also by using
modern computer graphics such as 2D photo montage, 3D still images, 3D animation, 3D
printing and Virtual Reality (VR) models (Wang et al. 2013 p.12).
The VR model is a new technology in visualisation. With a VR model, users not only can see
the simulation of a proposed design in 3-dimension model but also are free to explore it by
doing a walkthrough inside the model. By doing a walkthrough in the VR model, users can
have a virtual experience that stimulates their awareness about environmental changes of the

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project site. Nowadays, high visual qualities and realism are becoming increasingly available
in real-time software.
Virtual reality such as in-game technology is essential for architecture works because it can
help to make a lot of technical problems more comfortable to understand by providing tools
and information handled.
Public participation is one of the methods to gather information about the user’s response to
the design proposed. Public participation is essential because it influences environmental
mediation and decision making. The location of the designer and stakeholders can even be on
different continents. Here, the Internet is an appropriate tool to do two way-communications
between designers and stakeholders located in various places.
METHODOLOGY
This section encompasses on the method which one can employ to gather the information
regarding the application and the utilization of the VR technology and overall utilization in
the architectural works and design. The gathering of the information incorporates the
utilization of both the qualitative and quantizes data analysis. The information grounded for
this study largely obtained from the literature reviews, case studies as well as the qualitative
research conducted in the process. The qualitative method applied in this process is the
interview technique. This section therefore, carried out in various sub sections as follows
Method Concept
In the examination and the evaluation of the VR technologies, various case studies associated
with the qualitative research method was applied. There was the determination of the general
opinions of the different participants as well as the analysis on in-depth norms associated
with the selected method. Also, the reasons behind the opinions of the various participants as
far as the VR application in the architect was also compounded and detailed. Grounded on the

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literature review, it was clear that the information regarding the participants could be
gathered from the collected detailed information. This was conducted as per the information
gathered from the researchers and the case studies.
Study Group
The study group mainly consisted of 25 participants. In this study scope, there were 13
female and 12 males selected for the case study evaluation and the individuals have the in-
depth understanding of the VR technologies and architect applications associated with the
process. The evaluation considered both the individual who has applied the technology as
well as those who has just heard about it and have not applied it in the design works. The
current technology and utilization of the VR also encompassed on the effectiveness of the
process as per the clients’ requests; inquiries and satisfactions as far as the architectural
works are concerned.
Implementation Process
There was the application of the pilot studies to established and determine the VR technology
application in the architectural works. All the participants were adapted and incorporated in
the learning environment which entailed the VR glass use. This activity was organized and
was expected to last for duration of 5 minutes. The learning concept utilized in this process
was new and has never been utilized by the participants before. A window period was given
to the participants to adapt the utilization of the technology. This aimed at creating the space
and interaction between the participants and the VR glass systems. The interaction initiated
aimed at equipping the participants with the necessary knowledge and understanding of the
system as well as making the study flexible. Further to this, there was the utilization and the
distribution of the studying opportunities to various participants. Conversely, the time limited
for this study was not set but it was estimated and approximated decisively. There was also
the inclusion of the technology to assist in determining the interaction framework among the