Designing in virtual space

The approach of Gramazio Kohler's immersive studio is fundamentally digital. "We wanted to try out the extreme and radicalize the thesis," says Gramazio. Naturally, digital and analog methods can be combined. The abstraction of plans - generated directly and interactively from the 3D model - is still useful, as the interim review makes clear. However, the design semester for a component warehouse in Zurich took place entirely in the 3D model - apart from sketches. "The students told us that they had produced three times more sketches this semester than usual," says Gramazio.

Some students hang plans or photos on the wall in the digital model, which can be viewed in virtual space. Others work without any methods from the analog world. In addition to the digital presentation, the students also learn to program their project with scripts. This allows them to build and vary the 3D model more quickly.

During the interim review, the students alternate between the screen and the VR arena. The immersive representation allows the architecture to be assessed more comprehensively. And it detaches the presentation from the location. In one semester, Gamazio Kohler conducted a remote review from Zurich with students in Japan. Thanks to VR, everyone was in the same room.

In contrast to the Immersive Design Lab, which Gramazio Kohler opened at ETH in 2021, the immersive design studio does not require much infrastructure. A few commercially available VR glasses are enough. The software for the virtual tours is called RADii and is available free of charge. It was developed by the Danish architect Thomas William Lee at the Arkitektskolen Aarhus. Gramazio Kohler worked with it for four semesters in their design studio. After beta testing, they are now making external page the documentation for the tool available to the other design professorships. ETH is supporting the teaching project with an Innovedum Grant.

At the end of the semester, the students submit a 3D model and a video that takes the viewer through the virtual space. The camera emerges from the clouds, shows the building from a bird's eye view and then moves through the architecture. The level of abstraction of the representation can be adjusted as required. The students can also use it to display animations or cross-sections through the model. Even the weather can be simulated and changed. At one point, during the interim review, the question of the yield of the PV modules on the roof of a building comes up. The model provides the answer: with a few mouse clicks, the solar radiation can be simulated depending on the date and time of day.