Application of mixed reality for improving architectural design comprehension effectiveness

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2021.103677Get rights and content

Highlights

  • An original renovation design was used in an experiment to assess the effectiveness of Mixed Reality (MR) for design review.

  • The advantage of MR is the ability of allowing the user to explore a given space in a way that accurately mimics reality.

  • MR allows users to visualize architectural details on site without having to carry any cables or heavy equipment.

  • MR has the potential to replace material samples as it can accurately represent an element's thickness and appearance.

  • MR-based design review is more effective than 2D methods for communicating the architect's design proposal effectively.

Abstract

Extended Reality (XR) technologies such as AR, VR and MR have influenced many industries, including architecture. Even though they are all capable of creating immersive digital worlds, the only one capable of merging the real world with a holographic 3D modelby letting the user interact intuitively and naturally with the project is MR. In this paper, 42 participants were divided into two groups and analyzed an original architectural renovation design. They assessed the effectiveness of design review using Mixed Reality (MR) versus traditional 2D methods. The results show that MR based design review can effectively communicate 85% of the information to the client versus 70% provided by 2D media. At the same time, it has the potential to enhance the client's comprehension of the aesthetic characteristics of materials, giving the possibility to replace physical samples during the finishing stage of construction.

Introduction

In the last decade, the most common way of representing architectural design ideas has been using traditional 2D orthographic projection drawings (i.e. elevations, sections and floorplans), along with realistic images of digital 3D models called renderings. These renderings were drawn by hand in the past but, due to technological advancements, they are now made digitally in a computer using different software such as Sketchup, Revit, AutoCAD, or ArchiCAD. These tools have given the construction process many benefits like: communication improvement, fluid development of design ideas and problem identification in early stages of the project [1]. Even though these representations have precise measurements and defined materials, they can only be seen through two-dimensional means such as printing or computer screens, which make the process less intuitive.

However, in recent years architectural rendering has received the influence from Extended Reality (XR) technologies. This is a term referring to wearable devices and computer-generated graphics that allow the creation of real-and-virtual environments with which the user can interact [2]. XR includes many types of technologies such as Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual reality (VR) and Mixed Reality (MR). With XR immersive models, it could be possible to address many existing problems in the current design review process which traditionally have inconvenient solutions. For example, design teams in need to produce several physical models to analyze multiple design options for a single project, architects who wish to save time in tedious explanations to non-architect clients about certain project details, contractors who are looking to eliminate the creation of physical mockups when solving design issues in the construction site, or firms wanting to reduce the amount of paper waste they produce while designing a project. MR's ability to allow the user to see the real world while displaying a holographic 3D model merged with the physical environment [9], gives a more intuitive and natural interaction with architectural design. It can provide just the critical, spatially referenced information, that augments an individual's knowledge of the environment [4] better than printed rendered images, computer screens and VR headsets produced for the same purpose [5].

The rapid advancement of technology and the potential applications of MR both in the office and the construction site, make it a technology that might revolutionize the way architects and other construction professionals work in the next couple of decades. That is why the researchers decided to explore MR's possibilities. They designed an experiment based on an original architectural design, in order to determine if the use of Mixed Reality in the architectural design review process is more effective than traditional representation methods for communicating the architect's proposal during the development stage of design. This will hopefully aid in expanding the existing body of knowledge that relates XR and architecture, give more concrete results on how this relationship can be sustained and possible methods on how XR, specifically MR solutions, can be applied pragmatically in the field or the office. At the same time, this research could also help professionals, who are unsure of whether MR is a good fit for their company, to make a decision that fits their specific needs.

Section snippets

Extended reality

Extended Reality (XR) refers to all real and virtual combined environments as well as human-machine interactions generated by computer technology and wearables [2]. All these technologies can create immersive digital worlds to various extents, and each offers specific tools that can allow the user to achieve different goals. Hence to discuss about XR, it is necessary to first discuss what is known as the Reality-Virtuality Continuum [6] (see Fig. 1). In one end, AR happens when the real world

General information

In an attempt to find a method for combining 2D and XR in design review, the authors of this paper decided to design and perform an experiment in hopes of shedding some light on the subject [28]. This experiment was performed in Taipei, Republic of China (Taiwan) during the first half of the year 2020. During this time, the world was facing a pandemic known as COVID-19, which caused many countries to halt work and normal activities for a period of time. Nevertheless, Taiwan never went into

Participants

Altogether, 42 participants (Male: 26; Female: 16) took part in the experiment, with 20 as part of the control group (2D), and 22 as part of the experimental group (MR). The average age was 26.36 years and they ranged from 20 to 58 years. Regarding academic background, 30 participants were professionals with either a bachelor's or a master's degree, and 12 participants were students from different university majors. Then, 16 out of 42 people had previous knowledge reading plans, either from the

Discussion

We see that MR's advantage is the ability of allowing the user to explore a given space in a way that accurately mimics reality (see Fig. 6). Since MR headsets, like the HoloLens, do not need prior training, it becomes clear that mixed reality can become a helpful aid for the design review process and make it more efficient. MR allows users to interact with a 3D model while still being able to interact with the real world and read specific information from a printed drawing at the same time.

Conclusions

The work describes the design, and implementation of an experiment which used the holographic capabilities of the Microsoft HoloLens to evaluate its effect on design review effectiveness during the development stage of design. For this purpose, an original architectural design proposal was created, in order to provide a base line that would allow the comparison of participants. They were divided into two groups: a control group, which looked at the design with 2D drawings, and an experimental

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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