Investigation of the contribution of virtual reality to architectural education

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
İlker Erkan

This study mainly examines the contribution of the virtual reality environment to architectural education. The primary aim of the study was to investigate the theoretical possibilities of VR technology in an interactive and participatory educational environment that would allow students to examine architectural components and inter-component relationships. A group of 160 volunteers participated in the study, with participants asked to design villas in both natural (non-VR) and virtual reality (VR) environments within a specific period. Designs made in both environments (VR and non-VR) were evaluated by a team of five experts (jurors). For the evaluation, jurors wore eye-tracking devices and were asked to comment on the designs in both environments. In the virtual reality environment designs, the following categories showed significant differences over the drawings in a natural environment: functionality, aesthetics, user perception of space and internal physical quality (light quality), indicating that the virtual reality designs were examined more closely by the jurors than were those in the natural environment. This study will contribute to design discipline if virtual reality systems are adopted in architecture education.

2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 295-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Kattein

In an attempt to make architectural education more relevant to professional architectural practice and as a response to increasing tuition fees, major changes to university curricula in the UK are afoot. This brings unprecedented opportunities to re-consider what and how universities teach - and to make architectural education more relevant to real-world challenges.Last year, undergraduate design unit UG3 at the Bartlett School of Architecture completed an innovative project. The unit teamed-up with educational charity Global Generation to design and build a series of small buildings for a real client on a real site in King’s Cross. The article ‘Made in Architecture: Education as collaborative practice’ evaluates the emerging tradition of the live project as a vehicle for teaching architecture students about teamwork, collaboration and engagement. These skills - although increasingly significant to architectural practice - have until now been largely side-lined by university curricula.Only if educators and practitioners together embrace new opportunities for architects to engage and empower communities can the profession reverse increasing marginalisation and re-define it’s remit in the face of new social and environmental challenges.


2004 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 143-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fred W. Mast ◽  
Charles M. Oman

The role of top-down processing on the horizontal-vertical line length illusion was examined by means of an ambiguous room with dual visual verticals. In one of the test conditions, the subjects were cued to one of the two verticals and were instructed to cognitively reassign the apparent vertical to the cued orientation. When they have mentally adjusted their perception, two lines in a plus sign configuration appeared and the subjects had to evaluate which line was longer. The results showed that the line length appeared longer when it was aligned with the direction of the vertical currently perceived by the subject. This study provides a demonstration that top-down processing influences lower level visual processing mechanisms. In another test condition, the subjects had all perceptual cues available and the influence was even stronger.


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 15
Author(s):  
GANDOTRA SANDEEP ◽  
Pungotra Harish ◽  
Moudgil Prince Kumar ◽  
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2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 287-288
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Hausdorff ◽  
Nofar Schneider ◽  
Marina Brozgol ◽  
Pablo Cornejo Thumm ◽  
Nir Giladi ◽  
...  

Abstract The simultaneous performance of a secondary task while walking (i.e., dual tasking) increases motor-cognitive interference and fall risk in older adults. Combining transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) with the concurrent performance of a task that putatively involves the same brain networks targeted by the tDCS may reduce the negative impact of dual-tasking on walking. We examined whether tDCS applied while walking reduces the dual-task costs to gait and whether this combination is better than tDCS alone or walking alone (with sham stimulation). In 25 healthy older adults (aged 75.7±10.5yrs), a double-blind, within-subject, cross-over pilot study evaluated the acute after-effects of 20 minutes of tDCS targeting the primary motor cortex and the dorsal lateral pre frontal cortex during three separate sessions:1) tDCS while walking on a treadmill in a virtual-reality environment (tDCS+walking), 2) tDCS while seated (tDCS+seated), and 3) walking in the virtual-reality environment with sham tDCS (sham+walking). The complex walking condition taxed motor and cognitive abilities. During each session, single- and dual-task walking and cognitive function were assessed before and immediately after stimulation. Compared to pre-tDCS performance, tDCS+walking reduced the dual-task cost to gait speed (p=0.004) and other gait features (e.g., variability p=0.02), and improved (p<0.001) executive function (Stroop interference score). tDCS+seated and sham+walking did not affect the dual-task cost to gait speed (p>0.17). These initial findings demonstrate that tDCS delivered during challenging walking ameliorates dual-task gait and executive function in older adults, suggesting that the concurrent performance of related tasks enhances the efficacy of the neural stimulation and mobility.


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