This paper describes a design experiment aimed at prototyping and exploring a virtual media architecture. We describe how we developed a prototype of a continuous circulation space that allows grounded movement, visual continuity and transitions between modes of the reality-virtuality continuum using an HMD (head-mounted display) and a technique called Stencil Rendering. Our prototype, situated in an architectural environment and supported by a narrative that provides a direction and context of use, enables us to explore the logic of circulation from direct experience. Throughout this paper we identify and reflect on several principles of this logic and define the circulation space as a composite of actual and virtual that unfolds interactively as the visitor moves through it. Our approach shows a way to experiment with the notion of virtual media architecture and to speculate about its possible use.
The concept of intermediate-level knowledge is increasingly used in interaction design research and media architecture. Recently it has been proposed that intermediate-level knowledge is better actionable to designers when it is conveyed on multiple levels of abstraction. This paper shares an approach-in-the-making to generate and disseminate knowledge in line with this proposition. We describe an ongoing exploratory case in which the aim is to generate actionable insights with regards to promoting neighborhood resilience through media architecture. In our approach we explicate knowledge on three levels of abstraction: design examples (most concrete), a framework (most abstract) and design strategies (in between design examples and framework). We discuss how the roles of these levels of abstraction are distinct when either generating or disseminating knowledge. We conclude our paper by looking ahead. As our research team will start to engage with partners in social design, architecture and urban planning, we will explore how our multi-level approach to intermediate-level knowledge is fruitful in generating actionable insights for a more interdisciplinary audience.
First Virtual Reality Museum for Migrant Women: creating engagement and innovative participatory design approaches through Virtual Reality Spaces.“Imagine a place filled with important stories that are hard to tell. A place that embodies the collective experience of immigrant women during their temporary stay”. In this project the first museum around immigrant women in Virtual Reality is created and tested. Working with the only migration centre for women in Monterrey, Lamentos Escuchados, project members (professional developers, lecturers, and interior design, animation, media and humanity students) collaborate with immigrant women and the centre officials to understand the migrant women stories, their notion of space/home and the way they inhabit the centre. This VR museum helps to connect immigrant women with the community while exploring more flexible ways to educate architects and interior designers about alternative ways of doing architecture through participatory design approaches.Partners:University of Monterey (UDEM)Lamentos Escuchados
Dit lectorenplatform richt zich specifiek op vakoverstijgend onderwijs op het snijvlak van kunst, wetenschap en technologie. Deelnemers aan het lectorenplatform beschouwen de opbloeiende, interdisciplinaire praktijken van wetenschappers en kunstenaars als een inspiratiebron voor de vernieuwing van het funderend en hoger onderwijs. Om deze vernieuwing te realiseren moeten vanuit verschillende vakgebieden hands-on-ervaringen en onderzoekservaringen gecombineerd worden. Hierdoor komen leerlingen en studenten vanuit verschillende kennisdomeinen in samenwerking tot nieuwe manieren van leren en probleemoplossen. De ambitie van dit platform is om praktijkbeoefenaars, wetenschappers en docenten uit verschillende sectoren en disciplines bijeen te brengen. De NWA-route ‘Kunst: onderzoek en innovatie in de 21ste eeuw’ roept nadrukkelijk op tot investering in dergelijke platformen: “Het primair vernieuwende in deze route is dat partijen uit het kunstendomein: kunstenaars en ontwerpers, de sociale, geestes‐ en natuurwetenschappen, het kunstvakonderwijs, culturele bedrijven en de creatieve industrie zich met elkaar verbinden en inzetten op een gezamenlijke onderzoeksagenda. [...]" (Borgdorff, et al., 2016, p. 3). In het lectorenplatform staat niet alleen vakintegratie centraal, maar draait het ook om een actualisering van de leerinhouden van de kunst- en bètavakken: kunst kan heel analytisch zijn en bèta creatief, en kunst en bèta kunnen elkaar in onderlinge interactie versterken. Het lectorenplatform wil dus ook bestaande ideeën en beeldvorming rond kunsteducatie en wetenschap-/techniekonderwijs ter discussie stellen, en daarmee een impuls geven aan curriculumvernieuwing: van funderend tot beroepsonderwijs. Om onderzoek naar onderwijs op het snijvlak van kunst, wetenschap en technologie te bevorderen en binnen verschillende sectoren dit onderzoek op de agenda te zetten, richt het platform zich op drie themalijnen die aan de basis van de onderzoeksagenda staan: (1) professionele kunst- en ontwerppraktijken, (2) funderend onderwijs en (3) beroepsonderwijs. De themalijnen vormen de leidraad voor te initiëren onderzoek en activiteiten als het opzetten van een thematische online database met good practices en de organisatie van designathons waarin deelnemers uit verschillende disciplines de interdisciplinaire praktijk actief beleven.
The key goal was to further develop, secure and disseminate knowledge and concepts concerning the role of high realism in Virtual Reality. It followed the Digital Media Concept professorship to create and examine the effects of high quality worlds and characters in VR. Key focus was on the effect of high versus low realism in (existing and non-existing) digital environments as well as digital characters and avatars (digital representations of human users) and embodied agents (digital representations of computer programs that have been designed to interact with, or on behalf of, a human). This means on the one hand getting better equipment and skills to digitize and create high realistic avatars in VR. And on the other hand this means that a better understanding of the concept of realism and quality is needed. This encompasses a whole range of terms that varies from realistic resemblance, to high fidelity appearance and (real-time interactive and authentic) behaviour based on high AI programming. Research showed that very important is congruency in realism between elements within a VR world. Furthermore it showed that high realism is not always needed to stimulate ‘real’ (VR) behaviour. High immersive experiences and impulse behaviour also functions in virtual environments that have lower levels of realism. Studies have been conducted within the field of health, entertainment, advertising, architecture and journalism. An example is the VR game Descend, see link (used to examine the effect of realism through resemblance).Partners: Radboud University, Enversed, Stanford University, University of Oregon, Cornell University, several companies
