ARch – Augmented Reality for Architecture

ARch – Augmented Reality for architectural building design

In architecture, physical scale models, either for study or for exhibition, play a key role as a tool in the creative process of the planning and design of architectural projects. However there are always some difficulties associated with this approach, such as the time spent and the costs involved in their production and modification, whenever it is necessary to predict the outcome of changes in the project, or when trying to view details of the interior of the model, which may not be feasible.

Aiming to assist the architects to overcome these difficulties, an hypothesis was proposed that points to the use of visualization and interaction technology in augmented reality, with a 3D virtual model of the architecture project, on the same scale of the physical study model, through a tablet-type device.

The hypothesis verification went by creating a prototype allowing the display of 3D virtual models of buildings and their surrounding environment using augmented reality and study its usability with a panel of students and architects. This system allows these models to be viewed in augmented reality through a tablet, using texture tracking based on vision, which needs a planar visual marker (a regular image) that works as a plane for the registration of the model. The system also allows several features that facilitate either the modification of the 3D model, or the interaction with it, such as occlusion of objects and the support of interactive cutting planes for interior detail viewing, widely used in architecture. To enrich the viewing and interaction experience with the 3D model, the system uses a mobile computing platform with touch screen, allowing touch-based interaction.

ARch4maps

This research focused primarily on the definition of an augmented reality app that allows users to take advantage of cities’ physical maps by increasing the information they provide and enabling the visualization of buildings in an interactive and dynamic way. Over the course of this investigation various types of maps on different physical and digital formats and the way they transmit information to the user were studied. The shortcomings of paper maps and the potential of technology in enriching and overcoming those shortcomings was investigated.

To overcome the shortcomings of maps we developed an augmented reality app running on a Windows tablet that recognizes features on a city paper map and overlays, in real-time, digital content related to buildings which are relevant in the city. The system registers the location of those buildings in the map, enriching the user experience in augmented reality, with several levels of multimedia information for each building: image, text, video and 3D models which can be explored in detail in an included BIM viewer. To this end, this app was designed to be informative, interactive and simple to use. Displayed buildings can be queried and filtered by associated meta-data such as decade, author, conservation, possibility of visit, etc. The target audience for this application are mainly tourists, architects and other people interested in architecture.

Through customer satisfaction and usability evaluation, it was possible to conclude that most participants easily handled the application and were satisfied with its performance. This way, ARch4maps proved to be very capable in increasing the amount and type of information of the maps, while having the possibility of launching and manipulating buildings’ 3D models of buildings, which was very appreciated and considered to work well and transmit the reality of the building to the general public, which is not used to read plans and cross sections. We can thus conclude that ARch4maps has the potential to enrich both specialist and the general public with an interest in architecture and built heritage.

ARch4models

This research focus on the development and evaluation of a computer tool that enriches physical scale models of buildings, which are still commonly used during architecture and civil engineering design processes.
The main goal of this work is to understand how we can bond together physical and virtual representation modes by superimposing (or registering) them, to increase the understanding of an architectural design, while at the same time allowing them to show the alternatives or the evolution of such design.
Our hypothesis is that designers, architects and students would benefit with an augmented reality tool that help them to visualize their designs, to compare changes and to analyses their proposals within the urban context, without the normal time-consuming process of remaking a physical model as they do now. Urban physical models are those that we believe can benefit more from such a tool, since the rehearsal of alternative design proposals is frequently done at this scale of design work. We want to enable designers, namely architects, to use the affordances of the physical scale models, by enhancing them with digital characteristics that can be easily changed, allowing an enriched interaction of the designer with such models.
Our in-house developed Augmented Reality tool – ARch4models – augments the user experience with visual features and interactive capabilities, not possible to accomplish with physical models. The tool allows the coherent registration between the real and the digital in the same space.
We conducted usability and satisfaction evaluation studies that have shown that ARch4models improves the building design process when compared with a traditional methodology employing solely physical scale models.

Mariana Lopes, Nuno Mendonça, Ricardo Miguel, Steven Gomes, Fábio Costa.

Realidade Aumentada para Design em Arquitetura. Msc Thesis. Lopes, Mariana Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, Porto, 2014.

Expor Arquitetura desmontando-a com realidade aumentada. MArch Thesis. Mendonça, Nuno Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), Lisboa, 2014.

Realidade Aumentada Aplicada ao Processo de Projeto de arquitetura. MArch Thesis. Miguel, Ricardo Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), Lisboa, 2014.

Realidade Aumentada aplicada nos mapas de Arquitectura. MArch Thesis. Gomes, Steven Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), Lisboa, 2015.

O Virtual sobre a Realidade: Estudo de ferramenta para aumentar maquetas reais. MArch Thesis. Costa, Fábio Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), Lisboa, 2015.