新科大建筑设计教学 应用虚拟与增强实境技术

30 Apr 2019

Lianhe Zaobao, 30 Apr 2019, SUTD uses virtual reality and augmented reality technologies to teach architecture design (translation)
 
Besides being used to develop digital games, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) can also be applied to architectural design, allowing designers to “experience” the space they are designing, and promptly make adjustments to their design, breaking through both time and space constraints.
 
The Singapore University of Technology and Design’s (SUTD) Architecture and Sustainable Design (ASD) pillar rolled out a new module which allows students to use 3D gaming software, Unreal Engine, to develop virtual scenes to test out their building design and experience.
 
SUTD believes it is the first university to use VR and AR technologies in its teaching of architectural design.
 
SUTD ASD Professor of Practice Eva Castro set the topic ‘Digital Archive’, to encourage students to imagine how to combine virtual reality and reality in a future world where there is a shortage of space, such that physical buildings can be used as “virtual libraries”, “virtual museums”, and even “virtual cemeteries” to store information, cultural relics, and even memories of deceased relatives, as a future method of collection and preservation.
 
During this process, students learn to grasp the use of VR and AR technologies to redefine architecture design.
 
Prof Castro pointed out that in the design process and conceptual presentation, the architecture industry has begun to adopt technologies such as virtual reality, so it is necessary for students to master these technologies.
 
Around 60 architecture students presented their work in an exhibition at the school yesterday. Second-year student, Lucas Ngiam, whose project was under the “virtual cemetery” category said that compared with the traditional design methods such as plane drawing and fabricating models, the visual and experiential effects of virtual reality gave him a more “immersive” experience of the space he was designing. It was also easy to test and modify the design repeatedly.
 
Many external architects and designers were invited to yesterday's exhibition.
 
When interviewed, Ong & Ong Pte Ltd group executive chairman Ong Tze Boon said that for architects, virtual reality technology seems to be a new “drawing board”, and many customers hope to “immerse” themselves in the space that designers have come up with. “As more and more architects and designers use this technology, it is good for students to master this skill while still in school.”