“Phygital Realities: Mixed Reality Environments for Architects”, Inclusive futures

Mixed Realities ability to conjure ephemeral space at real-time with impactful presence at an urban scale, architecture and architects, might for once get a foot ahead of technology. Architecture might become fast. The expertise of the architect as an image maker and space generator allows architecture to proceed technology and outline their demands. This workshop speculates on the future of architecture as a profession, questioning its existence within the realm of hybrid spatial realities. Throughout, you will investigate the overlaps between architecture, art, media and content, by developing an urban mixed reality experience for a defined user/user group. Each group will be given a IRL site in which to design their own digital environment which interacts, overlaps, dissolves or integrates with the site. Working throughout, in first-person we will design and implement core interaction systems, scripted using c#, akin to a mobile mixed reality experience. Lastly we will take our projects and visualise them in augmented reality utilising the powerful image tracking and plane tracking capabilities of Wikitude in Unity3D. The main tools throughout the workshop will be Unity3D and Cinema4D, however, you may use a 3D modelling software you feel most comfortable with and we will try accommodate the very basics of texturing, exporting and importing 3D models. We will take full advantage of the first-person controller possibilities within unity as a way in which we can prototype and test mixed-reality experiences. The core aim of the workshop is to transfer skills which allow you to question the potentials of a mixed-reality architecture by beginning to outline your own criteria for value and defining guidelines for your own mixed reality architecture.