Interactive virtual environments: from modelling to architectural exploration

To attract students’ attention and communicate cultural content, computer applications are increasingly being used. The pedagogical potential of new technologies and their trend towards graphical representation and advanced visualisation techniques are clearly evident. Within the scope of an interdisciplinary master's degree project in building engineering and architecture, new didactic techniques based on the integration of virtual reconstructions in spatial infographic systems have been explored, using graphic representation as a transversal approach to inspect, analyse and explore different architectural objects. With the aim of generating inspectable models, emblematic examples of the Modern movement architecture by Le Corbusier have been selected: the Curutchet House and Villa Savoye. The applied methodology was developed following well-defined stages, starting with the analysis of the architectural style, going through a process of simplification and object-oriented modelling, then the visualisation process, assigning textures and materials to the elements and, finally, the diffusion and exploration of the architecture. Digitisation and the design of new tools for exploring architecture not only increase the user's sense of presence in the virtual environment but also make it possible to perceive it from different perspectives. Students will feel as if they are physically present in the virtual world, an extraordinarily enriching experience, and an almost unique recreation of extended visualisation technologies. The digital model allows practical cases to be examined in a way that would not be possible with the actual physical object. This will allow a wide academic audience, from anywhere and at any time, to experience and investigate architecture.