FAMU Digital Documentation, a VR narrative for architectural education
Résumé
Context : Florida A&M University (FAMU) is often recognized as an institution that embraces the potential of under-represented populations and balances a commitment to humanities as well as STEM centered research. FAMU’s academic breadth provides an opportunity to demonstrate the potential for emerging technology as a tool for cultural memory and historic preservation.
Problem: In the area of architecture, heritage and computer technologies, specialists have to generate innovative and distinctive methods that involve of a large diversity of tools, technics and knowledge. As result, specialists should be able integrate a huge level of constraints issued by every partner, such as technical issues, expectations of end users, decision process, while being able to put a high level of creativity in their design. This paper aims at proposing a development method that supports both objectives and tries to contribute to find a way to incorporate the sensitivities in a new way of designing and managing Virtual Reality spaces with the use of the boundary object concept
Research question: As narratives offers a unique way to combine representations concepts and perceptions of the multiple actors involved in the creation process (Elliot, 2005), this paper assumes that their systematic use as a boundary spanning mechanism, may contribute to both creativity in the design and to the overall fit of the final proposition with the expectations and constraints of the actors of the ecosystem. The use of narratives however remains to be explained in such a context as the way they are designed, the process by which they are shared, the way they are interpreted and used by the different partners in order to span boundaries has not been explored by research.
Research design: The research design involves an action research based on a longitudinal and in-depth case study and which results into the design of a VR application for education and mediation. The case study that accompanies our reflection is the design of VR visit of the FAMU site, an architectural course and the celebration of the legacy of peaceful protesting for civil rights. The request is to offer opportunities to discover a page of African American history, to live an exceptional experience, to be in connection with the socio-economic context and to benefit from local synergies for the reception of students and visitors.
Findings : This article shows how to move from a very high density point cloud to a 3D model which is compatible with virtual reality. The production of a 3D model from multiple sources is well documented and, although each case has its own particularities, multiple solutions can be found. On the other hand, the creation of a complex model for virtual reality and Quest in particular in the form of a "benchmark" is an original contribution. We therefore detail the technical limits of the virtual experience for Quest 1, Quest 2 and the Oculus Link solution.
Contribution: we show in this article how the concept of boundary object allowed us to federate a multidisciplinary team around a complex project since it was carried out in three distant laboratories during the covid period. Used in this project, the concept of the boundary object provides a methodological framework for replicating projects such as this one.
Practical implications: Pandemic circumstances call for thinking about the methodological structure of remote cooperation projects. The approach we have described is one that allows to adhere to a project through its narrative content. The technical solutions have therefore been chosen within this shared narrative structure (Boundary Object). The benchmark developed in the project's wake provides accurate points of reference for teams wishing to use the same tools.
Origine : Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s)
