AR in Architecture

This project sought to conceptualise a system that encouraged architecture students to try a participatory approach to design. Five interviews were conducted, and relevant literature was examined, in order to gather data about the subject. It was found that architects use a specific language when designing, with this language being a mix of speech and illustrations, making it difficult for non-architects to understand them.

Process

In this project, a framework called Productive Thinking Model was used to create structure in the project. The model divided the design process into six phases, where focus was on examining the background and the context potential problems were in. The structure of the framework provided an opportunity to include various methods and could support a creative approach to finding and designing a solution.

Since the project urged architecture students to switch to participatory design, the team behind the project planned to try out how difficult such a switch would be. This was done by conducting a workshop with the goal of including users of the future system, and having them help design the system and elicit requirements for it. Due to COVID-19 the workshop methods and activities had to be adjusted to fit an online execution. This caused complications where the workshop did not facilitate participatory design, and instead developed into a group interview of sorts. Based on the experience gathered from the failed switch to participatory design, a strong focus was put on making a proper and robust system that could facilitate participatory design. Based on literature it was found that augmented reality could be a great tool for facilitating the participatory design, since it could help make the language of the architects more understandable for non-architects. From this, a concept of a program that could bridge the gap between 3D modelling programs and AR glasses was made.

The concept was not tested on users since no actual system was developed. The system could however work on a technical level, since different design principles and heuristics were considered in the development. However as discovered throughout the project, the architects have to make a shift from a culture characterised by an expert approach to design, to a culture centred around user involvement and participation. It was discovered through experience by the group, and backed by the literature, that such a shift can be difficult and therefore it could not be concluded, that the conceptualised system would provide value for the students.

Design

A list of requirements was defined based on the outcome of the workshop as well as six interviews that were conducted online, in order to outline what the system should be able to do. The MoSCoW method was used on the requirement list to categorise categories as “must have," “should have," “could have," and “want to have”. These requirements formed the basis of the design proces.

The concept was visualised through wireframes, where the design of the wireframes took an iterative approach. Three iterations of the design were made, with each iteration solving the previous iterations shortcomings.

The idea behind the system and its design was that the customer would wear AR glasses while the architect sat by a computer. The system would be running on the architects computer, where they could see the model that was being displayed to the customer through AR. The architect would then be able to make adjustments to the model which the customer would see in real time. This would allow the customer to request changes and for the architect to test these changes immediately.

Gallery

This section provides images related to this project, such as sketches, wireframes, screenshots and similar. Click on an image to view the full size.