RESEARCH General Arts

ARCHITECTURE
High-tech tools give designers the ability to create plans in 3-D

Melissa Mitchell, Arts Editor
(217) 333-5491; melissa@uiuc.edu

11/1/02

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — For centuries, architects have been designing three-dimensional spaces based on two-dimensional drawings and plans. From those designs, models, then buildings, eventually are constructed.

But what if architects were able to design in 3-D right from the start?

Joy Malnar, a professor of architecture at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and students in her graduate design studio are exploring that process this semester in an immersive virtual reality CAVE environment. Working with ShadowLight, an application developed by National Center for Supercomputing Applications researcher Kalev Leetaru, students are creating designs in the CAVE, an immersive VR theater located at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology.

"The advantage of this virtual reality environment is that it permits a closer approximation of the real world than traditional two-dimensional drawings," Malnar said. "And because you are immersed into the full-scale model – rather than looking down on a small-scale model – a human scale, eye-level analysis can occur." And, she said, as designers move through the CAVE space and draw using a wand tool, their peripheral vision and sense of touch are activated, aiding in the design process.

The CAVE has been used as a visualization tool for scientists and researchers working in a variety of academic disciplines, as well as by artists, but Malnar said she doesn’t believe any other schools are "using it to this level of creativity" for architectural applications.

And while Malnar’s students are experimenting with virtual reality tools, their design project has the potential to solve a real-world problem. The students, working in five three-person teams, are designing plans for a park-like expansion of a 2 1/2 mile-long area along Chicago’s north shore. They were instructed to design an area that included a gateway and other landmarks; shelters; pathways for pedestrians, bicyclists and in-line skaters; and water features. The expansion – which would feature a series of man-made lagoons and islands – has been endorsed by Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, and by 48th ward Alderwoman Mary Ann Smith, who met with the class to discuss the city’s goals for the project.

"The problem in that area is that there are not enough parks," Malnar said. "The shoreline isn’t protected from bad weather, and there is no place for pedestrians or bicyclists. Smith’s ward is one of the densest in the city, and land there is very expensive. So, to create these islands with landfill – for instance, dirt taken from tall-building construction sites in the Loop – is not that unrealistic."

Even if the students’ designs aren’t realized in the end, Malnar believes the students’ CAVE explorations are invaluable. "They take away the experience of thinking in 3-D," she said. And that ultimately will help them "to work as better architects – faster."

The students’ designs will be on view at I space, the university’s Chicago gallery, Dec. 30-Jan. 25.