AR&VR, New Tools for Architectural Design and Architectural Visualization

As Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) technologies have become more visible in recent years, this new form of interaction and representation has gained popularity among thehnology giants such as Apple and Google. In terms of architectural visualization, VR technology can emerge a high degree of immertsion experience. This is a new type of interactive experience that ordinary architectural drawings, renderings, and even videos cannot bring to the user. Thanks to VR technology, the user can complete a free view in a virtual building model. Both architects and clients can better can better have a more accurate judgement and estimate the possibility of building's final construction at the same time. AR technology, on the other hand, can add a new layer to the real world through a portable smart device (e.g. phone and tablet), which means more elements can be displayed, especially for clients or non-professionals who can see directly from 2D drawings to generate pre-designed interactive 3D models. From the architectiral design point of view, architects can support by VR and AR technologies in order to have an entirely new design experience and process. In traditional design methods, there are more or less various deficiencies: for example, the paper drawings have the lack of a full understanding of the third dimension, computer modeling mostly based on God's perspective to ignore the design logic from the user's view, the physical model because of proportion cannot fully express the details and materials. However, VR technology, thanks to the virtual virtual environment, can help architects solve these design deficiencies. Base on this virtual technology, the architect can be fully immersed in the true scale of design, while the space esperience will be converted into the most intuitive visual sense, coupled with real-time rendering technology to assist the material, light, and detail of the control can also be synchronized into the design.