Virtual Aesthetics in Architecture: Designing in Mixed Realities

Virtual Aesthetics in Architecture: Designing in Mixed Realities presents a curated selection of projects and texts contributed by leading international architects and designers who are using virtual reality technologies in their design process. It triggers discussion and debate on exploring the aesthetic potential and establishing its language as an expressive medium in architectural design. Although virtual reality is not new and the technology has evolved rapidly, the aesthetic potential of the medium is still emerging and there is a great deal more to explore.

The book provides a comprehensive overview of the current use of virtual reality technologies in the architectural design process. Contributions are presented in six parts, fully illustrated with over 150 images.

Recent projects presented are distributed in five themes: introduction to mixed realities; space and form; context and ambiguity; materiality and movement; body and social. Each theme includes richly illustrated essays by leading academics and practitioners, including those from Zaha Hadid Architects and MVRDV, detailing their design process using data-driven methodologies.

Virtual Aesthetics in Architecture expands the use of technology per se and focuses on how architecture can benefit from its aesthetic potential during the design process. A must-read for practitioners, academics, and students interested in cutting-edge digital design.

Sara Eloy is PhD in Architecture and Assistant Professor. Eloy’s main areas of research include digital technologies applied to architecture, shape grammars, virtual and augmented reality, space perception, and housing rehabilitation. She is the director of the Information Sciences, Technologies, and Architecture Research Centre (ISTAR) at Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), where she is also a fellow researcher. She has curated “CLOSE to cities and CLOSER to people” for the Lisbon Architecture Triennale 2013 and “Artificial Realities: Virtual as an Aesthetic Medium for Architectural Ideation” for the Lisbon Architecture Triennale 2019. She has participated in national and international research projects and published her work in several journals.

Anette Kreutzberg is Teaching Associate Professor at the Institute of Architecture and Design at the Royal Danish Academy, and a member of the Architectural Representation research and teaching unit. Kreutzberg’s activities focus on the digital representation of architectural concepts, with a special interest in the Nordic daylight phenomena. Her research involves the use of immersive VR, 360° panorama photography and renderings, as well as animation and interactive media as tools to experience and evaluate daylight quality in architectural spaces.

Ioanna Symeonidou is Assistant Professor at the Department of Architecture at the University of Thessaly, specializing in digital media for design and manufacturing. She graduated from the Architecture Department of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and completed her postgraduate studies at the Architectural Association in London. Her PhD focuses on digital design and construction methods. Symeonidou has previously taught at the Department of Architecture at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and the Graz University of Technology in Austria. She is the author of more than 40 papers published in scientific journals, books, and conference proceedings, and has participated in research projects in Greece and abroad.