Research

on Development and Application of Architectural Design Course Assistant Toolbox Based on Virtual Simulation Technology

Architectural design is the core course of architecture. The research shows some problems in the current learning environment, such as students' low participation, lack of interactive experience, low efficiency, and so on; COVID-19 also exposes the limitations of distance learning in design courses, and the traditional learning mode needs to be innovated. The virtual simulation technology can help students enhance the sense of spatial scale, fully understand the teacher's teaching content, and improve the design initiative. Given this background, this paper uses the methods of questionnaire survey and data analysis, based on summing up the current situation of architectural design learning, according to the learning characteristics of each stage of the design course, puts forward and establishes "architectural design course auxiliary toolbox." The toolbox is a collection of various virtual simulation interactive technology resources, including 360 panoramic camera, VR glasses and other hardware, space panorama production, and other kinds of software. After explaining the use methods and critical points of the final built toolbox, combined with the application of the course, this project preliminarily evaluates the use effect of the toolbox in each learning stage. It suggests some suggestions to help develop emerging technologies, such as virtual simulation in teaching activities.

Preface

With the development of technology, virtual reality technology has also gained breakthrough products, which is both a challenge and an opportunity for traditional architecture education. And it has been shown that the intervention of virtual simulation technology can bring immersive and interactive experience, which can feel the actual scale and complete architectural details in a realistic environment, and also improve the efficiency and interactivity of communication, thus cultivating students' sense of spatial scale, making them fully understand the design methods taught by teachers, and improving the initiative and learning efficiency of design works. Therefore, the study of a virtual simulation-based architectural design course support toolkit is of practical importance.

Given the above background, this paper proposes and establishes the "Architectural Design Course Support Toolbox" based on virtual reality technology, formulates the support plan in stages and applies it to the course teaching, compares and analyses the feedback on the effect of students' subjective learning experience and the actual presentation and summarises the suggestions.

Conclusion

The use of the toolboxes in the curriculum has demonstrated that the use of virtual imitation technology is effective in helping students to understand the content of the lesson by visualising communication, experiencing the realistic scale and detail of the construction in a natural environment, overcoming time and space constraints to achieve real-time editing, and sharing synchronised scene roaming among multiple participants. This helps students to understand the content, enhance their sense of spatial scale and increase their learning efficiency and motivation. For students of different levels of thinking, the toolboxes are effective in helping them to understand the content, improve their sense of spatial scale and enhance their learning efficiency and initiative. The effectiveness of the toolboxes also varies for students of different levels of thinking. The toolbox has other effects on students with varying levels of thinking. Some shortcomings in using the toolboxes at this stage have been identified, such as some equipment needing to be more portable and simple to operate and the effectiveness of some modelling methods in design needing to be refined. The results of some simulations need to be optimised. In summary, the innovative design of buildings based on virtual simulation technology, The curriculum support toolkit is a good teaching tool for developing architecture design teaching and learning development.

Outcome

In this phase, we worked on our thesis. We carried out a series of work camps to verify the speculative part of our thesis. The results of the workcamps were written in our thesis. Virtual reality devices were used throughout the camp to support the design of the building, and the students could choose to use different virtual reality devices for each stage of their design. The results were presented in images and videos. VR will be used for reporting when the teacher evaluates the project. Finally, we use the virtual showroom to deliver the results.

Application Manual of Architectural Design Aid Toolbox based on Virtual Reality Technology

Traditional architectural design teaching needs a more balanced understanding and efficient communication. With the intervention of virtual reality technology, one can immerse oneself in the experience at a realistic scale. This manual is divided into sections for each stage of architectural design teaching/learning and organizes the specific equipment and supporting angles in each area where virtual reality can intervene. The aim is to provide practical guidance for introducing virtual reality technology into architectural design teaching. The manual presents the essential stages of use, then explains them in order of tool numbers, and finally provides a recommended evaluation of the stages of use. The overall serves as a reference for the application of virtual simulation technology to the curriculum.

Virtual Showroom for Workshop

Everyone can scan the QR code and can browse not only each student's drawings but also enter the proposed model for specific observation and view the video of the studentmade proposal presentation. Through the virtual showroom, students can express their proposals more comprehensively and effectively in various ways and perspectives.

Crawl the elevation points of the designafecity area; Crawl various data information of the cityarea

Rhino+GH generates terrain model

The terrain model is linked with Unity

The model information is passed fo theArduino, fo the motorTransmit the rotation signal.

Arduino motor builds a physical city terrain model

The Unity code processes the solid model and the visualization city data panel is presented in Hololens.

Place the physical module on the physicaferrain model to simulate the shape anainformation of the urban design building

Pressure sensor sensor module pressureinformation; The pressure information is transmitted to Unityand converted into building information suchas building height and floor area ratio;

The module lights are illuminated to indicate whether indicators such as floor area ratio are compliant; In Hololens, the visualization panel of regional index data is presented in real time, and the interactive panel is adjusted.

Select the unit module panelin Hololens forgesture interactive input.

Unity processes the gesture signal, and thevirtual model simulates the effect of gesture adjustment; information of the gesture slider is fransmitted to the Arduino, and the signal is input to the motor and the light strip

Module light with luminous prompt adjustmenteffect [compliance/exceeding standard]

The motor drive module fits the adjustmenteffect in the virtual with reality.

Multimodal I nteraction in Urban Design Spaces based on the Hololens Mixed Reality Platform

It offers a Hololens-based mixed-reality platform for urban design. The study provides a Hololensbased mixed-reality platform for applying spatially augmented creative environments. Through multiple transformations of data modalities, we are creating a platform for designers to extrapolate their designs from 2D to 3D and for the public to participate in urban design.

UAV flies around or dot matrix to takephotos of the construction site to obtain sitelocation and data information

According to their own design sketches andconcepts for the preliminary design of thebuilding

Context Capture builds 3d models of aeriameasurements

Meshmixer cleaned the site, repaired thebroken surface, and restrained the watersurface

GH+Rhino, Sketchup building digital model

Give the building a texture map

Use Unity, Unreal, Map New Earth, Shining City, Lumion and other software cariers to combine the two models

Hardware carriers such as Hololens and Vive alasses were used to further analyze the architecture and environment

Database of Hunan University Building Complexes Based on Tilt Photography

The research is as follows: (1) To study the modeling method and data architecture of the tilt photography 3D model; to compare the impact of the flight mode of the UAV on the accuracy of the final model under different environmental requirements.

(2) To design a complete process from production to application of a live-action model and to arrive at a current optimal solution for using tilt-photography models in conjunction with architectural design solutions to achieve the integration of architectural design with the urban environment.

(3) To investigate the future use of the realistic model, exploring its potential use in HoloLens, VR glasses, and other media vehicles and mixed reality platforms, as well as its application in virtual platforms such as Lumion and Unity3D.

Other Works

Other Fields Panatrate Architecture

During my time at the university, I was willing to study other aspects besides my architectural design course, such as the creation of ancient Chinese buildings, interior design, and green architecture. This is a selection of some of the other work I have done at university. This shows my interest in architecture and its extensions.