VIRTUAL VISION TAKES FLIGHT

COLOMBIAN students will transform Eastern Beach into a colourful kite festival using cutting-edge virtual reality technology.

The group of architecture and industrial design students are this week working with some of Deakin’s landscape architecture students to design a “Colombian cultural experience” at Eastern Beach that can be experienced in virtual reality.

Project leader Dr Beau Beza, from Deakin’s School of Architecture and Built Environment, said the idea behind the project was to work out what level of realism was needed to create a “feeling of place” in the virtual world.

Ultimately, if the project is successful, the trial could be expanded so architects and the public could “see” a virtual image of a yet-to-be built building at the site — which could greatly assist planning authorities when considering a project.

“What tends to happen if an architect is designing a space is they create a scene that looks as real as possible, but there’s still a large disconnect between the space and the community judging it,” Dr Beza said.

“We want to develop a simple platform where people are truly immersed in a setting using existing and affordable technology.”

Working with Deakin’s IDeEA Lab, the students will introduce elements of built environment and design to the setting to examine to what extent place can be represented in augmented space. Dr Beza said this type of technology was not commonly used by architects and planners because it was too expensive. But the usability of the technology being trialled by students could change that.

“It could be as simple as going to the planning authority website, downloading an app with the virtual environment, going out onsite, standing in the space and interacting with it. Potentially all from something as simple as your own smartphone,” he said.

The Colombian students are on exchange in Geelong for several weeks. Students from Deakin will travel to Colombia at a later date.