
Hyper: A revolution in design prototyping
Even today, it’s not so unusual for architects and designers to debate the integrity of hand drawing versus computer aided design, or physical scale models versus the computer fly through — meanwhile immersive technologies continue to pioneer ahead. After 10 months of development, our new company Hyper has launched its mixed-reality design service to the public across UK, Belgium and Germany.
We started this project by posing some questions. Imagine how much money you could save if you did not have to build a full scale mock up for a project such as a show flat or hotel room? Imagine if you could see and experience the results immediately of design changes to a project? Imagine your clients could customise their projects instantly such as the interior trims on a Rolls Royce or the spacing of the armrests in a business class aircraft seat? Imagine you could transport a tangible experience of your restaurant concept to present to your financial backers? So with support from EIT Digital — a pan-European organisation to promote innovation and technology entrepreneurs — Hyper has been launched.

At its first public outing at the EIT Digital Conference in Brussels last month, Hyper took to the floor and showed to the public its combination of high-fidelity Virtual Reality, motion tracked models and tactile material feedback. The principle is that users gain a tangible hands-on experience. Of course, the main focus of the demo illustrates that you can save time, save money and reduce waste, as it merges virtual technology into the design prototyping stage.
Over the two days of the conference, and all within the guise of an airline interior mock-up, hundreds of attendees sat down on a real air plane seat, with a VR headset strapped on and could redesign the aircraft cabin and their seat through the use of an intuitive digital dashboard and interchangeable motion-tracked 3D elements.

People were able to touch a bespoke selection of materials, ranging from synthetic leathers through to durable textile suedes and instantly apply these to their component of choice. This allows the user to instantly design changes, while also showing the subsequent material costs, to fit in-line with their budget.
Not everybody is of course a tech geek and the mechanisms of this design and experience platform needs to be intuitive to give the users confidence to explore the demo and make bolder, more significant design changes. At the conference and within seconds a university lecturer from Holland, with no experience in design, was able to reconfigure an Airbus A350 aircraft cabin layout, and make sure the armrests were designed to her exact measurements, for maximum comfort and style.

Nathan Sparshott, director says: ‘At Hyper, we are genuinely committed to developing and fine-tuning our service. When we were invited to the EIT Digital Conference in Brussels we knew that there would be no better way to demonstrate our new service to hundreds of leaders in the tech world and to owners of digital business and design industries.
We are now at a stage where our product is ready for anyone to experience. We are committed to solving real-world problems within the architecture, transport and interior design sectors.”
