VR & Architecture > a GAME CHANGER pt2
As stated in pt1, I truly believe that a key driver of the future of architecture will be learnings and knowledge coming from the gaming industry.
Hence, to start the discussion and stir up the industry’s imagination, as a gamer, architecture lover and ‘VR pioneer’, I’ve listed 9 areas coming from games that will considerably reshape architecture in the near future 🔮
1 : INTERACTIVITY is bringing story-telling to architecture visualisation
Games engines (and talented game developers) are now capable of displaying remarkably detailed worlds and characters in real time interactive 3D, generating live physics, deformations and changes on the fly. It’s the result of years of R&D and tech evolution now reaching a state of the art quality on par with the best V-Ray renders. This brings a major new area to ‘play’ with within architecture visualisation : the ability to interact and see changes happening live right in front of our eyes.
what does that mean for architecture : interactivity allows us to totally rethink architectural visualisation from the ground up. Today’s visualisation were thought for an era of pre-rendered 3D. But from now on, renders don’t have to depict a static or fake ideal scene : we’re going to be able to tell more stories within these spaces, showcase different conditions, options and allow the users to live their own narrative with the environnements.
as an example, in real estate, instead of purchasing based on plans and a shinny brochure full of flat renders, prospective buyers will be able to visit and get a real feel for the space before anything has been built yet : see the view from the 2nd story and 10 story apartment, walk in the room and pick the flooring materials, maybe look under the bed and find some luggages with their favorite destination stickers on it, pick up a photo-frame and see their Facebook holiday album displayed, go in the bathroom, turn on the bath tap, and see how fast the water fills the tub… a much more engaging experience leading up to an emotionally based purchase decision.
2 : MULTIPLAYER isn’t just for games anymore, meetings and site inspections will happen in a virtual building site
Games have of course been at the forefront of multiplayer / social interactions for more than a decade now. There’s an obvious reason why Facebook hired Left 4 Dead’s designer to lead it Social VR efforts. Combined with VR’s sense of presence, design reviews will never be the same again.
what does that mean for architecture : no more geographical boundaries : soon, we’ll be able to do all the design inspection meetings in virtual reality, in the project space itself, involving all the major stake-holder, feeling their presence, seeing their design decision happening live under our eyes, wherever in the world they might be.
3 : CREATION FOR ALL : through simplified and collaborative creation tools
It’s been awhile that developers created streamlined, easy to use creation tools for their community to express the creativity and add value to their IP.
These tools do not require any kind of 3D software knowledge, are simple to use, entirely collaborative and allow you and your team-mates to immediately test your maps in real game conditions in seconds.
Even better, those creation tools are now coming in VR : allowing us to create on the go at full scale. This is an area we’ve already started to invest in at IVR, with the goal of creating easy to use software creation tools for our clients’ replicable designs, ideal for hotel, restaurant or retail chains.
what does that mean for architecture : these tools will help flatten access to creation and allow for a massive change in the workflow of a project, allowing to create, build and test at full scale, in a more collaborative and open environnement.
4 : Ghosts, data and new ways to collaborate
Another great mechanic in games such as Dark Souls, or even racing games, is the principle of asynchronous multiplayer : while having your own ‘solo’ experience, you’re connected to the other’s players games, seeing where they have been and explored, in the form of ‘phantoms’.
Dark souls being an extremely difficult and unforgiving game, seeing these glimpses into other’s players mistakes gives you crucial information and insights to overcome the game’s challenges. Another great mechanic introduced by the Souls series is the equivalent of in-game post-it : allowing players to leave notes around the world, indicating danger, secret areas or expressing their moods and emotions going through this daunting world.
what does that mean for architecture : watch, learn, annotate : while exploring a space, we’ll be able to get insights and data from the experience of previous explorers, seeing the objects and areas that grabbed their attention, and leave notes / voice overs and annotations for our team-mates and collaborators as we test and question the design and approve decisions.
5 : COMPLEX WORLDS : visualisation becomes simulation
As the technology keeps on pushing boundaries, game are now able to simulate complex open worlds and interactions, using IA, physics simulation, pathfinding and live terrain transformation… Things have been really interesting with Cities Skylines, a game allowing for complex simulation which certainly created some urban architects vocations since it came out in 2015
That’s what the a16z backed and greatly named start up Improbable and its spacial.os is working on, leveraging on gaming’s complex systems and bringing it to other industries to simulate complex worlds on a large scale.
what does that mean for architecture : as dezeen recently wrote about, tools developed by the gaming industry will become key for architecture’s future simulation of complex scenarios. More than real time 3D, it’s the whole gaming technology spectrum that’s going to be leveraged by the industry.
6 : VIRTUAL ECONOMY : building entirely for the virtual world
Did you know that some kids make thousands of dollars creating virtual hats for virtual game characters and selling them online ?
Or that out of the $18 millions Dota 2 Esports prize pool, $17 millions were generated directly from the direct revenue of virtual items by the Dota community ?
Or that Valve, one of the most innovative and amazing gaming company in the world hired Greece’s finance minister in 2013 to work on its platform overwhelming virtual economy ?
what does that mean for architecture : if VR really catches on, and people start spending more and more time in virtual spaces rather than real apartment or offices, architecture firms, design brands and interior designers might shift a part of their business towards virtual design. I mean, who is going to design and sell you the lamp of your virtual office ? Who is going to design the virtual stadium hosting 30 millions players watching an eSports final ?
These questions aren’t far-fetched, it’s already happening within games, it could very well happen in the architecture and design industry. In the future, architects could design and sell buildings that’ll be entirely virtual.
7 : UI / INFORMATION OVERLAY : learn and discover what’s beneath the surface
The UI for VR is yet to be refined, but games already started the work, experimenting with augmented reality display graphics, mapping systems and inventory for ages. Most notably, the amazing work done by the teams of Dead-Space and more recently The Division
what does that mean for architecture : the ability to display contextual / anchor deeper information within the structure, such as internal pipes and mechanism explanation, display options without clutter within the virtual space.
8 : OPEN CREATION / MODS : user generated value
Games have long opened their worlds and creation tools allowing the community to spin the game and rules in their own terms. We call these user generated add-ons MODS. Architecture having such a big impact in our environnements and our daily lives, the simplification of creation tools might one day open the way for the end users to add their own personal touch to the projects architects all around the world are building for them.
what does that mean for architecture : open access to let the end users add relevant and highly qualitative value to architects’ vision and creation.
9 : COLLABORATIVE WORLD BUILDING : the architects of the future are in Minecraft
The ultimate example, regrouping most of what I’ve listed above to foresee the future of architecture, would of course be Minecraft. The gaming phenomenon that lets kids all around the world create their own universe, stories and mechanism in pixellated glory.
How come a group of 8 years old kids manages to organise and sync themselves to create gigantic complex structures and systems when an architect and a BIM manager sometime have a hard time understanding each other ?
As an architect, it’d be very interesting for you to go and watch how these kids create their own worlds, you’d not only be impressed, it’d give you a glimpse into the future of creative collaboration for the industry.
To end up this 2 part medium post, I believe that VR won’t only bring scale and presence to architecture, but all of the learnings and years of innovation from the game industry, opening the door to new kind of creators and expertise collaboration. Ultimately changing the architecture industry as we know it forever.
This is just the very beginning, but there are some very exciting times ahead for sure. It’s never been a greater time to be a gamer. Quoting Drake again : what a time to be alive indeed.
If you have any questions or comments, or if you’d like to find out how might VR be leveraged to create innovation driven value for your industry, do not hesitate to get in touch : benoit@ivrnation.com
