Use of Technology
In this project, I designed an atrium for the new Computer Science building at UIC. In real scale, I created and imported models in a Harry Potter theme. Giving this atrium a whole new look, we can see how it looks like in real scale using the Quest headsets. We can use this technology to design and model real-life buildings to see how they would look like realistically. We can walk around the building, looking at it from different angles. We can also interact with objects and see how efficient and practical our design is. From an architectural perspective, we can use this technology to virtually build a building before spending hundreds of thousands of dollars actually building it. We can find any flaws or hiccups in our theoretical designs.
I feel that this technology is very useful in the sense that architects/contractors can save money on designs. If I wanted to present my building design to an audience, I feel that this technology is helpful in making the experience more immersive and realistically looking at a building, instead of just looking at drawings on paper. I feel that this can be more persuasive and can broadcast your ideas in a technical, efficient way. Of course, it may be more time consuming to use Unity and 3D modeling to design buildings, but it is more visually appealing and better to show than just drawing a design on paper. Of course, architects/contractors are able to build real-life miniature 3D models of their designs out of real materials like wood or paper, but there is no way to interact with it. The advantage of this technology is that you can make changes very quickly to your design, whereas with a real-life model, you would have to take it all apart and reconstruct it. With a few clicks of a button, you can remove a wall or add a column in your digital design. There is also an option of team collaboration, so that your colleagues can help build your design with you.
In the past few decades, technology has evidently improved drastically. I believe that Virtual Reality is one of the biggest technological advancements of our time. We can create our own virtual words from our imagination. Building and presenting our ideas has never been easier. There are so many possibilities regarding virtual reality. Virtual reality has the potential to expand businesses and open many doors. This project is a prime example. We designed a building before it was built. I had a Harry Potter theme to my atrium, but another student could have designed it with a Spongebob theme or any other theme. It is very open-ended technology and can help benefit the world in many ways.