Public XR: Investigating the Role of Architectural XR in Public Space

Extended reality (XR) is an umbrella term encapsulating all immersive technologies of AR, VR and MR. The advent of XR technology has built a sense of presence in the virtual environment as if it were real, providing a chance to revamp the way people experience the virtual and physical worlds. Blurring the lines between the physical and virtual world, XR has been broadly utilized across a plethora of fields from education, tourism, retailing, medical practice, professional training, manufacturing to entertainment. It is envisioned that this technology will become ubiquitous in the everyday life of citizens and fundamentally change how we experience our lives in the near future. With its potential of shaping a more flexible, healthy and sustainable built environment through augmenting the architectural expression in the near future, as a result, we propose public XR as a form of XR that is meant to be used specifically in public space to improve the public experience. Research will focus on capturing the design space of public XR, testing its impact in real-world scenarios and discovering its responsibilities to public regulations.

Keywords:Human-computer Interaction, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality

Disciplines:Architectural sciences and technology

Project type:PhD project