Landscape Architecture and Mixed Reality

LAR MR

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE + MIXED REALITY: TOWARDS AN IMMERSIVE ART

CONTENTS Landscape as an Immersive Art LA/R: DELTA South Park East Raleigh Heritage Walk NCSU Archives: Lost Landscapes EnviroKids

LAR MR

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE + MIXED REALITY: TOWARDS AN IMMERSIVE ART

Hidden Voices: Serving Life LAR Studio Process

CONTACT Kofi Boone, ASLA Associate Professor Department of Landscape Architecture NC State University College of Design kmboone@ncsu.edu 919-515-8349

Landscape as an Immersive Art Society is experiencing a renaissance in how we interact with images, data, and visual information. However, the profession of landscape architecture still relies on a disparate set of tools for communicating landscape dynamics. From remote sensing, to hand drawing and physical models, to digital design media, designers are forced to change perspectives, scales, and reset their methods for engaging in serious inquiry. The complexity of this process of making sense of different sets of information will only increase as we begin to incorporate big data and deal with the complexity of phenomenon like global climate change and rapid urbanization.

oramic 360 imagery to document existing sites and modify those images by adding layers of information about site characteristics.

Through the newly formed Experience Design Lab at the College of Design, We are currently using mixed reality tools in the conceptual design process; tools for visualizing landscape changes in an immersive 360 environment. With time, relationship building with partners, and resources, we hope to is link simulated environments with visualizations of data. From depicting the impacts of sea level rise or new zoning codes, to the landscape performance of sustainable systems or the impacts of demographic trends, creating and disseminating tools enabling designers to engage, maAt this critical point in time we want to reposition the practice of nipulate, and visualize this information in an immersive landscape landscape architecture as an immersive art. We want to rethink can help us make sense of change. our process of engaging information by combining the perceptual instincts we rely upon to take in real places and the new visualization tools afforded by mixed reality approaches (virtual, augmented, etc.). We think this immersive form of engaging the information describing landscapes, as well as speculating on the impacts of landscape change, can radically impact research, teaching, and engaging the people affected by our work.

For many people, the excitement they develop about the land was born of experiencing memorable places. For many designers, all of the steps leading from place understanding to placemaking are the currently necessary steps along the way to experiencing a transformed place. Currently, the profession of landscape architecture relies upon abstractions of places throughout the design and planning process. Drawings and models viewed from a distance serve as surrogates for the experiential qualities afforded by just “being there�.

We are developing ways of using mixed reality to approach landscape architecture as a process of immersive inquiry. Through previous research we have already learned and taught the use of pan-

The proliferation of smartphones and mobile devices can afford new forms of community engagement and policy decision making. Rather that rely upon the presentations of static drawings and physical models, anyone with a device can have access to the same information and use their devices to make sense of their current and future landscapes. The steps required to develop this immersive approach can support and enhance existing skill sets.

We will still need to cultivate community and client relationships face-to-face and develop our interpersonal skills. We will still need to conduct site inventory and analysis and gather mapped information. We will still need to draw and model. However, we can now imagine an extended process where all of these incremental steps deliver us back to what got us excited about landscape in the first place; a sense of being there. And through this process it is our hope to encourage more people to better understand their places, their potential, and roles as designers.

The Experience Design Lab, a cross-disciplinary community, explores virtual and augmented experiences as a cultural practice.

We take a human-centered approach, empowering artists, designers, humanists, scientists and engineers to delve into the evolution of our society through direct engagement with technology. We are passionate about creating experiences that benefit people while challenging current conceptions of the status quo. We actively invite collaboration with communities across NC State as well as partners in industry and other cultural institutions. If you are interested in finding out more about the IX Lab: immersive_x@ncsu.edu.

L/AR: DELTA: This exploratory study developed workflows for documenting and modifying 360 panoramic images and video using desktop modeling and graphics software. Workflows were developed for ease of use by Architecture and Landscape Architecture faculty and students.

For more on this study please visit: https://news.ncsu. edu/2016/04/delta-grants-make-vr-a-reality/

South Park East Raleigh Heritage Walk: This community-engaged design research project translated historic information into Virtual Reality (VR) experiences for use in interpreting culturall significant uses and places with no trace evidence in the landscape. Heritage Walk integration into current renovations to Moore Square in Raleigh was informed by Augmented Reality (AR) tools linking 3-D model views to printed maps of park entries. This helped stakeholders better understand the impacts of design changes.

For more on this study please visit: https://tinyurl.com/y832hucv

NCSU Archives / Lost Landscapes: This research project used VR to recreate the landscape of NCSU Talley Student Center by translating construction documents in the designer’s Archive (Richard Bell, FAAR). The “Lost Landscapes” pilot project matched VR viewpoints with 360 digital photography of the current landscape and developed a process to communicate landscape heritage.

For more on this study please visit: https://tinyurl.com/y84ulseu

EnviroKids: This outreach project used VR and 360 representation as a means of introducing high school students to design and landscape architecture. The six week experience taught the use of free and online design tools, and the use of different immersive tools to test and modify design strategies based on issues with scale, proportion, and material choices.

Hidden Voices / Serving Life: In collaboration with non-profit Hidden Voices and Mr. Hossein Saedi, VR tools were used to immerse people into a recreation of a physical model describing the life story of an incarcerated man serving life in prison. Through the use of Google Storyspheres, this immersive experience combines user navigation of the VR space and 360 audio narration.

For more on this exhibition please visit (best on smartphone): https://storyspheres.com/scene/Gd4EQAYi

LAR Studio Process: We are currently integrating Mixed Reality (MR) tools into studio instruction and review. Applications include sharing 3D models with remote stakeholders for feedback and review, conceptual studies for internal reviews of scale, proportion, light and material properties. Additionally, MR is being used in LAR final student reviews.