Sensation [is] Augmentation, Augmented [is] Reality: A study of dynamic structures as a physical interface for Augmented Reality

Abstract

Historically unprecedented advancement of technology in the 21st century has given rise to continuous discussion surrounding the future of humanity. Researchers in nearly every field of study have begun to factor in technology to ask specifically how key technologies might impact the different industries, professions and cultural traditions. AI, Robotics, Autonomous machines, Augmented and Virtual Reality; these are all things that promise huge impacts on modern society. The introduction of the internet and with it, online marketplaces, have already resulted in the decline of physical shopping and subsequently a void and decrease in value of the once prominent retail spaces. For architects, this starts to raise a series of difficult questions; what becomes of the empty spaces and old typologies? How will architecture engage with digitally immersed societies? All of these technological developments indicate a changing landscape in terms of the way in which humans interact with and use digital information and data. A significant development is interactions with data that can now transcend the two dimensionality of the pixel screens into three dimensional space; becoming environments of spatial digital data. This “augmenting” of spatial experience is completely relevant to the architectural profession, presenting design opportunities to a practice concerned with the design of spaces. “Pop Up Reality Shop” is an investigation of this phenomenon; the transition of digital information from visuals on a computer screen to inhabiting the physical space around us. It is an inquiry through the process of making, using the Microsoft HoloLens, motion tracking cameras and live rendering software in combination with dynamic architectural structures to generate “Haptic Digital Spaces”. This thesis, as a key part of the “Pop Up Reality Shop” design project, is a study of the impacts that Augmented Reality and “Haptic Digital Spaces” will have on architectural design and practice. As an opened ended exploration of technology in combination with architectural design, this thesis starts to evaluate the significance of physical material, substance and object in a “tangible data” experience to begin to suggest ways in which architecture will adopt these new digital elements of space.