Use of Immersive Technologies in Design

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Background

In recent years there has been a renewed focus on user-directed research in spatial sciences such as architecture, urban design and GIScience, often aiming to understand how people can perceive and experience built environment designs in ever more realistic ways. Novel technologies such as virtual reality can now be confidently used for visualization of spatial designs to facilitate an understanding of the characteristics of the design, to conduct experiments to characterize near-real-world visual information processing, and to investigate how humans navigate in built environments.

Designing built environments requires visualization during conceptual, urban and geospatial, architectural, and interior design phases of development. Historically this would tend to rely heavily on two-dimensional artistry. In recent years, industry has now begun to utilize new immersive technologies to aid in the visualization process of building design work. However, this is yet to be reflected and validated through peer-reviewed academic research. This has important ramifications, as immersive technology may possess on the surface, a 'wow-factor' often touted in design work, but fail to address underpinnings that are vital for the design process.

The goal of this Research Topic is to address and validate the novel uses of immersive technology, such as virtual/augmented/mixed reality, for the purpose of collecting user data and subsequently designing built environments, as well as better understanding how humans navigate in such environments.

Immersive technology allows for the collection of objective data from typically subjective experiences, by offering controlled experiments, while still eliciting an arguably ecologically valid experience for the participant. The scope of the present Research Topic is to highlight novel uses of immersive technologies for better understanding human factors in built environments. Contributors are encouraged to address themes from traditional architectural validation such as spatial and social density, and navigation-related experiments, as well as aspects from health and cognitive psychology, interior design, and workplace productivity. In addition, this Research Topic equally welcomes investigations into individual differences, such as culture, personality, and social economics. While Covid-19 is not a main focus of this topic, it is understood that social isolation and stay-at-home orders may offer a unique opportunity to explore the use of immersive technology and the built environment, and contributions examining such issues would also be welcome.

Keywords: Architecture, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Spatial Cognition, Built Environment, Navigation

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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