The de-emphasis of the physical environment in favor of a virtual one may initially seem like a cause for concern for architects and engineers; however, the more optimistic vision recognizes that virtual environments and digital tools create an entirely new realm by which, for which, and through which the architect and engineer may practice. How that overlap between the digital and physical is manipulated, how space is defined through digital media, is a prime opportunity for reconsidering architecture as we know it.
This course will particularly look at how the ability to design in, for and with virtual content informs and transforms the design process. How is virtual content already informing our physical environment, and how can emerging tools expand the designer’s material palette? How does immersive and interactive representation help to communicate design intent and environmental factors? And finally, how can these tools augment the understanding of non-visual content in architecture by conveying data through new spatially operative vocabularies?