Table Of ContentVIRTUAL AESTHETICS IN ARCHITECTURE
Virtual Aesthetics in Architecture: Designing in Mixed Realities presents a curated selection of projects
and texts contributed by leading international architects and designers who are using virtual
reality technologies in their design process. It triggers discussion and debate on exploring
the aesthetic potential and establishing its language as an expressive medium in architectural
design. Although virtual reality is not new and the technology has evolved rapidly, the aesthetic
potential of the medium is still emerging and there is a great deal more to explore.
The book provides a comprehensive overview of the current use of virtual reality technologies
in the architectural design process. Contributions are presented in six parts, fully illustrated
with over 150 images.
Recent projects presented are distributed in five themes: introduction to mixed realities;
space and form; context and ambiguity; materiality and movement; body and social. Each
theme includes richly illustrated essays by leading academics and practitioners, including those
from Zaha Hadid Architects and MVRDV, detailing their design process using data-driven
methodologies.
Virtual Aesthetics in Architecture expands the use of technology p er se and focuses on how
architecture can benefit from its aesthetic potential during the design process. A must-read for
practitioners, academics, and students interested in cutting-edge digital design.
Sarah Eloy is PhD in Architecture and Assistant Professor. Eloy’s main areas of research
include digital technologies applied to architecture, shape grammars, virtual and augmented
reality, space perception, and housing rehabilitation. She is the director of the Information
Sciences, Technologies, and Architecture Research Centre (ISTAR) at Instituto Universitário
de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), where she is also a fellow researcher. She has curated “CLOSE to cities
and CLOSER to people” for the Lisbon Architecture Triennale 2013 and “Artificial Realities:
Virtual as an Aesthetic Medium for Architectural Ideation” for the Lisbon Architecture Triennale
2019. She has participated in national and international research projects and published her work
in several journals.
Anette Kreutzberg is Teaching Associate Professor at the Institute of Architecture and Design
at the Royal Danish Academy, and a member of the Architectural Representation research
and teaching unit. Kreutzberg’s activities focus on the digital representation of architectural
concepts, with a special interest in the Nordic daylight phenomena. Her research involves the
use of immersive VR, 360° panorama photography and renderings, as well as animation and
interactive media as tools to experience and evaluate daylight quality in architectural spaces.
Ioanna Symeonidou is Assistant Professor at the Department of Architecture at the University
of Thessaly, specializing in digital media for design and manufacturing. She graduated from
the Architecture Department of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and completed her
postgraduate studies at the Architectural Association in London. Her PhD focuses on digital
design and construction methods. Symeonidou has previously taught at the Department of
Architecture at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and the Graz University of Technology
in Austria. She is the author of more than 40 papers published in scientific journals, books, and
conference proceedings, and has participated in research projects in Greece and abroad.
VIRTUAL AESTHETICS
IN ARCHITECTURE
Designing in Mixed Realities
Edited by Sara Eloy, Anette Kreutzberg,
and Ioanna Symeonidou
First published 2022
by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2022 selection and editorial matter, Sara Eloy, Anette Kreutzberg, and
Ioanna Symeonidou; individual chapters, the contributors
T he right of Sara Eloy, Anette Kreutzberg, and Ioanna Symeonidou to be
identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their
individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publishers.
Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent
to infringe.
L ibrary of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
I SBN: 978-1-032-02372-4 (hbk)
I SBN: 978-1-032-02373-1 (pbk)
I SBN: 978-1-003-18310-5 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003183105
T ypeset in Bembo
b y Apex CoVantage, LLC
Photo of the cover by Mariana Veríssimo from the Perspectiva Virtuais project by Julien
Rippinger and Arthur Lachard.
CONTENTS
Preface ix
Sara Eloy, Anette Kreutzberg, and Ioanna Symeonidou
A cknowledgements xi
PART 1
Introduction: The Visual Aesthetics of Architecture 1
1 A Concise History of VR/AR in Architecture 3
H enri Achten
2 Models and Fictions: The Archi-tectonic of Virtual Reality 10
F ederico Ruberto
3 Cybernetic Aesthetics 21
H elmut Kinzler, Daria Zolotareva, and Risa Tadauchi
4 Wish You Were Here: Virtual Reality and Architecture 34
S ean Pickersgill
5 How Architects Are Using Immersive Technology Today, and
Projections for the Future 43
Dustin Schipper and Brittney Holmes
PART 2
Space and Form 51
6 Reconceptualizing Zoos Through M ille-oeille : A Posthuman
Techno-Architecture to Sustain a Human/Non-Human/Culture
Continuum 53
Elena Pérez Guembe and Rosana Rubio Hernández
vi Contents
7 An Augmented Reality-Based Mobile Environment for the Early
Architectural Design Stage 60
Mehmet Emin Bayraktar and Gülen Çağdaş
8 Nordic Daylight in 360° 65
A nette Kreutzberg
9 Cyber-Physical Experiences: Architecture as Interface 71
T uran Akman and Ming Tang
PART 3
Context and Ambiguity 77
10 A Q uasi-Real Virtual Reality Experience: Point Cloud Navigation 79
Joana Gomes, Sara Eloy, Nuno Pereira da Silva, Ricardo Resende,
and Luís Dias
1 1 VR as a Tool for Preserving Architectural Heritage in Conflict Zones:
The Case of Palestine 89
Ramzi Hassan
12 Ephemeral Monuments 95
Spyridoula Dedemadi and Spiros I. Papadimitriou
PART 4
Materiality and Movement 105
13 Action Over Form: Combining Off-Loom Weaving and Augmented
Reality in a Non-Specification Model of Design 107
J ames Forren, Makenzie Ramadan, and Sebastien Sarrazin
14 Blending Realities: From Digital to Physical and Back to Digital 114
Ioanna Symeonidou
15 The Robotic Dance: A Fictional Narrative of a Construction Built
by Drones 121
Sara Eloy and Nuno Pereira da Silva
PART 5
Body and Social 131
16 Designing the Bodily Metaverse of Lisbon 133
Markéta Gebrian, Miloš Florián, and Sara Eloy
1 7 Inceptive Reality 142
C arla Leitão
Contents vii
18 Virtual Reality in Landscape Design: Findings From Experimental
Participatory Set-Ups 150
Ana Moural and Ramzi Hassan
PART 6
Projects 157
6.1
Creating Space 159
19 ZHVR BigWorld 161
Helmut Kinzler, Risa Tadauchi, and Daria Zolotareva
2 0 The Aesthetics of Hybrid Space 168
R uth Ron and Renate Weissenböck
2 1 VoxelCO—Playing With Collaborative Objects 173
A lexander Grasser
6.2
Experiencing Space 177
22 MVRDV Virtual Space 179
M aría López Calleja
23 The Digital Archive 187
Eva Castro
24 Sirius Gardens—the Building 191
S ean Pickersgill, Jason Semanic, and Chris Traianos
25 Form Axioms: ‘The Politics of Mapping the Invisible’ 196
Eva Castro
26 Oh Ambient Demons: Ringlets of Kronos + Coronis 2020, Decoded 200
Marcos Novak
6.3
Enhancing Space 207
27 Sky Gazing Tower 209
Kyriaki Goti and Christopher Morse
2 8 Identity 212
R udolf Romero
viii Contents
29 Perspectiva Virtualis 216
Julien Rippinger and Arthur Lachard
30 Holo-Sensory Materiality 220
Marcus Farr and Andrea Macruz
31 Porifera Suspended Topologies 224
P ablo Baquero, Effimia Giannopoulou, Ioanna Symeonidou, and
Nuno Pereira da Silva
A uthor Biographies 229
I ndex 240
PREFACE
Sara Eloy, Anette Kreutzberg, and Ioanna Symeonidou
Virtual reality and technology projects involving simulated environments have been around
since the 1950s. In recent years, the interest in virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and
mixed reality (MR) has been reawakened due to open-source, lower-cost, higher-quality, and
easier-to-use hardware and software, now linked with game engines. In addition, the emerging
social virtual reality (SVR) as well as x-reality (XR), in which ubiquitous sensors and actuator
networks play a role, are being used to generate a new blend of virtual and physical realities.
Together with the Internet and its potential as a cultural communication channel, these realities
now are gaining a new momentum.
Virtual reality is currently used as an umbrella term to refer to other technologies similar to,
but different from, an actual VR experience, and this is how we will use VR in this preface.
Since these technologies are constantly evolving, new terms to describe immersive experiences
will continue to emerge in the years to come.
Architectural design professionals are increasingly discovering the potential of these technol-
ogies. Architecture is no longer tied to specific geographical places but can instead be present
in multiple environments and in multiple ways that extend beyond real-world experiences.
The use of VR is now widespread in architecture, and the work which has been developed has
focused in particular on user studies, collaborative design, building management, and design
education. These studies and the associated publications are related to the benefits of VR in sim-
ulating environments, comparisons of different VR systems, new VR systems, and frameworks
for designers, as well as the evaluation of collaborative practices in design and the integration of
VR within schools of architecture.
Although VR as a technology is not new, its aesthetic dimension has still not been fully
explored.
In October 2019, a group of leading international architects and designers who are using VR
technologies in their design process gathered in Lisbon for the A rtificial Realities: Virtual as an
Aesthetic Medium for Architectural Ideation exhibition and conference, a project associated with the
L isbon Architecture Triennale 2019. During the course of one week, we presented and discussed
the role of mixed realities and virtual aesthetics in architecture. This event paved the way for
subsequent discussions that were extended to a larger number of practitioners that are now part
of this book, exploring ways in which virtual technologies can enable designers to expand their
creative processes and present them aesthetically.
