While designing in a virtual world, with shadows looming below objects as you create and modify them, you instantly ‘feel’ their weight and visual impact in a way no other architectural technology or design method affords.
When you finish modeling an idea, you can immediately test the design by walking through it with your avatar, experiencing how the space feels from an immersive and holistic perspective as a human, exploring a space, alongside your colleagues, rather than a cursor clicking lines in a CAD drawing.
During design review with a client, you can move objects on-the-fly, and quickly switch from one design concept to another. If the client asks how it would feel to lower the ceiling – you can literally grab the ceiling and lower it down, then walk through it within seconds to see it’s immediate impact on the space. If the client would like to combine their favorite ideas from 2 different concepts, you can combine them while they watch – then experience the newly synthesized idea.
They don’t have to be computer geeks or gamers to understand the power of this process.
If the client, or other project stakeholders wishes to experience the design on their own time, they can access the same environment from their home computers, exploring the design at their leisure.
No other architectural software gets even remotely close to this mix of technology, place, and newfound methodology, and I haven’t even touched on the profound collaborative and community aspects of this environment.
Behold, the future of design.
