Virtual architecture and adaptation to the COVID-19 pandemic

with "visual" clusters in the form of artist-commissioned works, it also proposes a situation in which

virtual architecture coexists with the experience of physical architecture.

These two Asymptote studio projects represent a turning point in virtual architectural history and a

major step toward a new understanding of architecture. Digital tools offer multiple possibilities to

provide architect with new ways to use space, generating forms of abstraction and interaction. Virtual

space has definitively broken the barrier in recent decades, allowing users to truly cross its membrane,

freely move and interact within the virtual world, particularly in the gaming industry.

Figure 23 The main navigation interface of Guggenheim Virtual Museum, 1999 by Asymptote

In the future, architecture will probably merge with what is now developing only as virtual architecture,

and it will be one of the next radical breakthroughs in design and architectural discourse. In conclusion,

in the last decades, virtual architecture based mainly on data and information, undoubtedly influences

the ways we now understand space, form, movement, and geometry.

Virtual architecture and adaptation to the COVID-19 pandemic

The pandemic has changed our work culture, prompting businesses to prioritize remote work and to

innovate themselves. We are all witnesses to the transition from the real to the digital economy (online

shopping, digital wallets, online rentals, digital marketing, gaming), and the worldwide pandemic has

accelerated it. As a result, many retail businesses, museums, theatre shuttered their doors in 2020, while

online retailers, conferencing firms like Zoom, Google Meet and Teems, virtual museums have achieved

great success.

Furthermore, internet connection modes have evolved from a simple 2D collection with hyperlinks to a

3D world to be explored. This has altered the way we work, shop, and live. In this sense architects can

play a role to shape and enrich the virtual space. They can design experience in virtual museums, virtual

amusement parks, and learning environments, as well as create digital assets such as cities, buildings,

furniture, and artefacts. For architects, it is uncharted world rich of potential to be recreated and free of

any physical world constraints.

The act of creation of virtual architecture in which the viewer is involved and call to interact is a new

form of art and architecture practice that is evolving fast in our time. Virtual reality constitutes a novel

form of experience in space, with the possibility to fully navigate it and interact with object that are part

of it. Moreover, this new reality can include also the possibility for multidimensional communication and

collaborative art making.

Several architecture firms are now starting to use VR to present the project to their clients including

space and various data in 3 dimensions and to propose them in real time changes or design options.

Others are using it to explore, reimagine and experience unbuilt spaces such as virtual museums. More

innovative firms use it as an innovative design tool that permit to collaborate, review and design in real

time and discuss design issues between professionals and clients. Below are shown and explainedseveral

case studies of innovative architecture design approaches in the virtual realm.

Architecture firms that use VR today

Ennead Architects, New York

Virtual reality has been employed by the New York-based firm to assist clients in visualising space and

data in three dimensions. For instance, in its VR displays, they employ a multicolour block to depict the

areas of Shanghai Planetarium that are most exposed to light.

ZGF Architects architecture firm Portland, USA

ZGF Architects firm have used VR to have feedback by various stakeholders on projects, allowing staff to

visualize options and make changes to designs in real time on materials, colour, dimensions etc.

"NFTism” byZaha Hadid Architects

At Art Basel Miami, Zaha Hadid Architects created "NFTism," a virtual art gallery that investigates

architecture and social interaction. User experience and social connection are prioritized in the design,

which is integrated with multiplayer online gaming and interactive technologies. According to ZHA (2021)

“Current photo-real, 3D and massively multiplayer online (MMO) video-game creation

technologies, combined with high-speed network and cloud technologies, allow cyberspaces to be

3-dimensional, interaction-rich, socially and sensorially engaging, as well as accessible through a

variety of devices using desktop browsers, mobile apps and smart TVs”.  The project focuses on a cyberspace that supports human-to-human communication using computer

networks based on spatial-web technology.

Figure 24 "NFTism” virtual gallery by Zaha Hadid Architects

SpaceForm by UNStudio and BIG architects

UNStudio and BIG architects have collaborated to create “Spaceform”, a virtual cloud-based workspace

that aids architects, developers and clients in the design, review, and collaboration processes. This

innovative virtual platform aims to let architects and other construction professionals to interactand

design remotely across multinational teams, minimising the need for travel. Furthermore, it allows

clients to review projects remotely, engage more effectively with architects, and enhance decision-

making processes. This can be seen as a good opportunity especially in the shift to remote work and in

general to the digital world due to Covid-19 pandemic.

The employment of immersive, real-time game technology facilitated exploration and reciprocal

participation in the virtual environment. Furthermore, the platform facilitates the visualisation of digital

twins as well as data exchange amongst users in order to increase communication and recommended

solutions among various stakeholders.

Figure 25 Spaceform platform, by UNStudio and BIG architects ( Cutieru, 2021)

Biarke Ingels described the platforms as:

“the augmented creative, collaborative environment of the future which will allow an

instantaneous confluence of actual and imagined realities – the present and the future fusing in

our augmented sense of reality.” ( Biarke Ingels in Cutieru, 2021)

In conclusion, architecture space (art space, game space, 3d environment) in a virtual realm has

numerous tools of representations. With the advancement of technologies and development of VR/AR/XR forms of architecture visualization have become more immersive. Immersion does not consist

only in the drawings representation but also includes the data information and the process of creation.

In VR the process of creation can be facilitated by collaborative and review platforms of communication.

Figure 26 Representation of architecture in the virtual realm (Source: authors)