March 2019
READY PLAYER ONE [1]
The method of conceiving and realizing architecture has been facing unprecedented shifts over the last 50 years. For centuries the hand-drawn method worked satisfactorily and few felt the need to disrupt this. Ever since the dawn of the computer age this has altered quickly.
Hand-drawn plans quickly gave way to 2D computer drafting (i.e. AutoCAD) at the end of the 20th century. This was then superseded by 3D BIM modelling (i.e. Revit) in the last decade. The architecture industry is now on the cusp of another shift in the method of production as we begin to adopt Virtual Reality or VR. This new technology looks beyond 3D BIM model, to an era where we design and present architecture in the digital first person. This new paradigm may not stop at altering the design process, but potentially the whole design outcome.
OCULUS QUEST HEADSET [2]
Over the last 10 months I have been working on a project linked with the VR sector in Silicon Valley. This association was known during the concept development phase of the project and there was talk of utilizing this technology during the design process. With very little VR experience I doubted the need for such technology. I was under the assumption that it was a fun concept that would impress the stakeholders, but overall would not actually inherit enough benefits to offset the effort and hours required to develop the content.
I was wrong.
With the help of a very astute IT consultant in our office who skilfully works across a range of firms in the Bay Area, we have developed a streamlined design process that now incorporates VR and first person presentations as a key part of our process. To the point where we recently held a paperless client meeting, which covered substantially more scope than would normally be possible.
MY CURRENT DESTOP [3]
Given my tutelage under Warwick Mihaly (of panfilo.co fame) I feel the need to recount my adoption of VR with the hope of helping others in the industry to also embrace the potential benefits that this technology offers. A rising tide lifts all boats.
The process we have developed in our office is underpinned by Revit, a BIM modelling program that allows you to develop a 3D model from which you can dissect plans, elevations, perspectives, etc. from a ‘live’ model. This information laden 3D model allows you to export all items of the construction documentation set.
With BIM one doesn’t simply draw a wall in plan; instead, you define the wall assembly, each material, the materials thickness, structural order, starting height, top height, etc. allowing the wall to function effectively in a range of potential views and schedules across the project. The front-ended nature of the BIM process can scare away people who fear the limitation of creative freedoms, however this is a hefty topic in itself, which I will leave for a separate discussion.
The wealth of knowledge embedded within the BIM model makes the step into Virtual Reality an easier manoeuvre than most would imagine. We use a VR plug-in that utilizes animation logic to launch the 3D BIM model into a VR model that can be viewed as a first-person walkthrough on screen or on a VR headset for the true VR experience.
“The process takes precedence over its results, if only because the latter is impossible without the former.”
Old computer based techniques would involve the concurrent development of 2D documentation and a separate 3D model. This process would either breakdown as the design evolved or would require substantial effort to keep both streams relevant. The key to our current process is the intertwined connection of the 2D documentation required for construction (for now at least) and the 3D model for design understanding. I now find myself using the native first person walkthrough to iterate design options with the 2D documentation portals open alongside. Our office is only six-months into the use of VR technology and it has already made a substantial impact on the process, presentation and the outcome of our design. I look forward to returning to this topic in the future to track the evolution.
THE MATRIX [4]
The rise of these new technologies does however come with some long-term concerns as to the trajectory of where these concepts may lead. I recently read the book Ready Player One, c.2011. The dystopian future depicted was alarmingly not far off what we semi-jokingly discussed in our office. Ready Player One portrays a future where most inhabitants of Earth spend every possible moment logged into a virtual reality called OASIS. This disconnection and disdain for reality lead to its unraveling. The main character Wade lives in a high-rise stack of trailers, just scraping together enough to afford the basics to sustain his Earth based existence, allowing his Virtual Reality life the opportunity to flourish.
“Before long, billions of people around the world were working and playing in the OASIS every day. Some of them met, fell in love, and got married without ever setting foot on the same continent. The lines of distinction between a person’s real identity and that of their avatar began to blur.
It was the dawn of a new era, one where most of the human race now spent all of their time inside a videogame.”
The book takes clear inspiration from The Matrix, c.1999, which could demonstrate the philosophical jump beyond the dystopian future of Ready Player One. The Matrix demonstrates a life completely removed from reality. The majority of the people in The Matrix do not realize their life is ‘fake’, with their real bodies being provided the necessary nutrients and comforts to sustain an existence automatically. To the majority of people in this future, The Matrix is reality.
I don’t mean to sound alarmist. However, I see something in this technology that is exciting and revolutionary. Cast your mind back 10, 20 or 50 years at the rate of innovation in technology and the way it is shaping contemporary life. The rise of social media in combination with this trend is starting to highlight the potential disconnection between reality and an online persona.
The irony of these statements being written on my online blog, advertised on my Instagram account, is not lost on me. I am a big advocate of the positives of these developments. I find several social platforms important assets. As an architect I find the quick access to a wealth of inspiration invaluable. I am a big believer in the need for the use of strategic, site linked, appropriation of architecture.
If we as architects have to innovate and revolutionise at every point it comes with an abundant waste of time and effort - which is to the detriment of the quality of architecture overall. This ability to appropriate has never been easier with an unparalleled access to the work and history of architecture thanks to the digitally connected world – best exemplified by Instagram. With the caveat that this appropriation must be done to complement rigorous analysis of the site, client and budget. Without this thoroughness the use of appropriation, as is so often the case, will lead to solutions that are hollow and confused in place.
GLENN MURCUTT: ARCHITECTURE OF PLACE, MUSEUM OF SYDNEY [5]
The traditionalists of the industry shudder at the notion of computer aided design, so I am going to imagine that VR isn’t at the top of their wish list either. Glenn Murcutt is renowned as Australia’s greatest living architect. This was reaffirmed by the recent fanfare around the announcement of his commission for the 2019/2020 MPavilion. I have heard Murcutt speak several times and without fail the rhetoric turns at one point to the need for architects to dismiss the reliance on the computer and instead utilise their own hand as the method for communicating architectural ideas. Murcutt correctly fears the ease of computer-aided design. To the untrained mind the computer provides simplicities that belie the actual need for thought and consideration. A firm base of construction, history and site understanding cannot be skipped.
“How are you gonna to be revolutionary if you’re such a traditionalist?”
There is a belief that the hand enables an architect to be inherently linked to proportion and scale - items that are believed to be dwindling away since the dawn of the computer age. VR when used by an informed user starts to break down these barriers. The ability to design in the first person is something that has the potential to revolutionise the design process. The dialogue around the necessity of the hand in the design process should natively extend to sight. With the inevitable future development of touch sensitive gloves for VR I wonder how Murcutt and Pallasmaa would engage with such a paradigm? The technology, whilst still developing (at an exceptional rate), has already developed the potential to commence the newest generation of architectural realisation - an era that I am very excitedly launching into.
“I’m not crazy about reality, but it’s still the only place to get a decent meal.”
My inner conscious is happy to be a little blasé about the discussed ‘impending doom’ of earth-based reality. I have faith that we as human beings have an inherent need to be connected with our ‘real’ reality. Humans have always innately desired the lifestyle balance and surroundings that have nurtured its evolution throughout the centuries. Whilst the fast passed and potential ease of living in a digital world will be alluring, it will (for the time-being) be purely imaginary. The human body requires a link to the natural world. I foresee in the distant future a world where humans will have to balance two lives, one in reality and one in virtual reality.
“Humans have evolved as a biophilic species; meaning that we are drawn to nature: we like to feel a connection to it in our homes, our offices, our communities. Our very genes are encoded to link our well-being – our being well and our feeling well – to sustaining an intimate connection with the natural world.”
Virtual Reality has the potential to drastically change the architectural process, and, in parallel with the tech industry, the traditional way of living. Ever since the dawn of the computer we have been working up to this point. Every technical innovation has been created to ‘improve’ a portion of the natural world. As this trend continues to evolve we need to think very carefully about what balance we are going to strike between the two forces.
Will technology evolve to fully consume reality as was foreseen in The Matrix?
Will technology evolve to dominate reality as was envisioned in Ready Player One?
Or, will technology evolve in parallel with reality to create a balance between the ‘real’ and the ‘virtual’?
This series of questions I believe will be some of the most defining questions of the 21st century. The way architects, and everyone more generally, interacts with these potential paradigms is something that should not be taken lightly.
In the mean time I will continue to develop my current projects from the comfort of my VR headset, being sure to talk it off and go outside, at regular intervals. VR is here. It should not be dismissed, but instead, embraced with caution.
References:
Ernest Cline, ‘Ready Player One’, 2011
‘The Matrix’, Lana Wachowski and Lily Wachowski, 1999
Juhani Pallasmaa, ‘The Thinking Hand’, 2009
Sarah Goldhagen Williams, ‘ Welcome to your world’, 2017
‘La La Land’, Damien Chazelle, 2016
Image Sources:
Ready Player One, Motion Picture Image
Oculus Quest Headset, Meta Marketing Material
Screenshot, Authors Own Image
The Matrix, Motion Picture Image
Glenn Murcutt Exhibition, Melbourne Museum