Virtual Suburbia and The Arch will be co-hosting an informal gathering, to welcome new architects to Second Life, and to bring people who love architecture together.

Chip Poutine, Keystone Bouchard and invited guests will be providing helpful tools, tips, contacts, resources and demonstrations to architects who are just getting started in Second Life.

Tuesday, December 5th
7:00 pm Pacific

Tinta Verde 153, 68

I sincerely apologize for the delay in entries. We just completed our cross-country move from Wisconsin to California to begin working exclusively within Second Life. I am now working in Berkeley for Clear Ink on some exciting architecture-related SL projects, and will be happy to share more of the story once I’m settled in.

In the meantime, I have gathered some exciting leads on stories related to how the metaverse is augmenting RL Architecture, as well as the stories of some new architects entering the SL scene who are in the process of building their RL projects and bringing in clients.

Stay tuned!

Some predictions via BIMania HERE caught my eye this morning. I’m still trying to digest their meaning, but I think Miguel touches on some interesting points, pertinent to the concentration of this blog:

“there will be an ever growing demand on digital designers… If architects don’t do it, somebody else will.”

“architecture itself could become inadequate for computers.”

This reminded me of a conversation we had at the Society for Virtual Architecture last week:

Keystone: Maybe virtual architects should evoke Louis Kahn and ask the prim, “Prim, what do you want to be?”

Scope Cleaver: “More than you’ll ever be.”

THIS STORY provides an interesting glimpse into an architect’s perception of how the future will transform the practice of architecture. I think the dates he predicts are a bit distant though. He suggests that his fictitious firm started using virtual reality in 2014. I predict hundreds of firms will be using some form of it by the end of 2008.

THESE PEOPLE are doing some very important work. I think they’re admittedly on a steep learning curve, but they’re ascending rapidly, and are definitely making me dream about the possibilities.

This is an animation of our virtual studio in Plush Rho, which essentially serve as our 3D website and general meeting space. We tried to make the studio itself into a living diagram of sustainability by including a living roof system, passive strategies, pellet stove, rainwater harvest, rain gardens, wind energy, photovoltaic panels and more. The building is populated with descriptive icons that, when clicked, send you an infoCard with more information about that strategy.

I rented this commercial land, separate from our model neighborhood, back when I was thinking of selling SL prefabs, out of respect for the residential zoning of our other neighborhood. The neighborhood site is far more private, with very few visits from non-client SL residents. However, once I abandoned my commercial endeavors, I decided to keep this location, simply because it generated quite a bit of conversation and interest from incidental traffic within the SL community – which I love. I have learned to never underestimate the power of the social and networking opportunities hidden in every chance encounter.

If you know of anyone building or planning to build a virtual studio for their RL office, let me know!

[youtube=www.youtube.com/v/ChPIgTvm9pk]

Starwood’s new virtual aloft hotel is quite possibly the most comprehensive blend of RL architecture and Second Life the metaverse has seen to-date. While this project has been widely covered throughout the blogosphere, it represents a nearly perfect manifestation of the purpose of this blog. Built by Electric Sheep Company, the aloft project raises the bar for Second Life projects built from RL blueprints.

Everything you could ever want to know about this project is posted HERE

For those of you who recently joined the RL Architects in Second Life group, welcome! I sincerely hope this will become a worthwhile and productive group. There are so many opportunities and challenges in this particular niche, it seems a timely and worthwhile effort to begin discussing what works, what doesn’t work, and what tools we need to make our work more efficient.

I think we all agree that a virtual platform has the potential to transform our industry. Most architects already spend a great deal of time working in 3D environments, and are constantly walking the line between the real and imagined. The emergence of a seamless and dynamic virtual platform, bridging the gap between real and virtual would be profound.

However, there are definitely roadblocks that prevent most RL Architects from joining in full force. I hope this blog will encourage an important dialogue and become a part of the force that derides those challenges.

Surely we’re in the midst of a natural evolution, whereby a few early adaptors will begin fighting their way through the current limitations to get in on the ground floor. First and foremost, I would like to blog all about those early adaptors, and share their stories.

A step beyond this are those who have not yet engaged SL as a professional tool, but are on the sidelines waiting for the technology to evolve before taking the leap. Some of the most inspiring conversations I’ve had are with these architects who are lurking behind the scenes in SL, watching and waiting. I’d like to find out why they’re not using SL professionally yet, and what changes need to take place before they’ll jump in.

Then there are the futurists, or metaverse evanaglists. Architecturally trained or not, there are lots of people who ‘get it’, and have visionary ideas about how the real and the virtual will come together for architecture. I want to blog about their ideas, and ask everyone in this group to share their vision for how virtual reality will evolve during the next decade and beyond.

Architects who quit their day job to build in SL exclusively? Why did you decide to make this shift? Do you plan on rejoining RL architecture once SL can more effectively support it? There are a curiously high percentage of architects in SL who have gone this route. If you’re one of these people, and wouldn’t mind sharing your story, I’d like to write about it.

In all, I think we’re on a pretty steep collective learning curve, and I hope this blog will help bring together a meaningful dialogue to help us understand where we are now, and where we want to be. Eventually I would like to see this group/blog host in-world events, podcasts, seminars, forums, classes, outreach programs, competitions and more. I welcome anyone’s ideas as to content, events or any directions we should be exploring. Please email me at jbrouchoud@lakefield.net, or IM me in-world, Keystone Bouchard, to share your ideas, or just say hello!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/WB5EFp7NbP0]

Versu will be building, sleeping and living SL for 72 hours straight during this demonstration of the Intel Core 2 Duo processors from a live window on 5th Avenue in New York City. Check out the live feed HERE.

Why cover this event here? Because she has decided to recreate the architecture, context and streetscape of her physical surroundings within the NYC storefront. This establishes a truly compelling synchronicity between SL and RL, since the bystanders watching her from the RL storefront can recognize the virtual replica, and can see the SL bystanders, and vice versa. On a number of occasions, they were interacting with each other, smiling, waving, and blowing kisses.

By watching the two simulcasting live feeds from both RL and SL, you could plainly see the differences between these two states of ‘reality’. On the one hand, I overheard lots of buzz amongst SL residents wishing they could be in New York City to see the physical installation in person. Some even talked about taking a day trip tomorrow to see it for themselves. However, many of the RL spectators seemed to be staring in awe at the uniqueness of total freedom in the virtual world. After all, the virtual spectators could fly around and soar to the top of the building, whereas the RL visitors had gravity to deal with. The virtual guests also seemed to be having quite a bit more fun, as the streetscape errupted into uninhibited dancing and celebration as the virtual sun set last night. People from around the world were able to stand beside Versu, and cheer her on.

Although unverified, it seems as though the RL Versu was moving her setup around the storefront throughout the morning, in an attempt to avoid the direct uncontrolled sunlight entering the space; an interesting counterpoint to her virtual location, which remained unchanged, save the occasional escape needed to reach the outer limits of her build.

In all, this installation really made me think. How could real time synchronicity between real and virtual be useful from an architectural standpoint? Since architects must operate seamlessly between the virtual worlds of design visualization, while remaining firmly planted in reality, surely there are ways in which a real time portal between these worlds would be useful.