The motivation behind the CDP interdisciplinary research project is to resolve the current discrepancy between familiar, analogue ways of working in the early architectural design stages and the ever increasing use of digital tools in office practice. The project’s objective is the conception and prototypical realisation of an interactive work environment for use in the early design phases. By directly linking familiar analogue ways of working with digital computer aided design tools, the CDP represents a working environment that allows designers to work the way they are used to while making use of the potential of computers. A special aspect of the collaborative design project is the Tangible User Interface. An object on top of the table, which is a working model made of rigid styrodur foam is automatically scanned in three dimensions by a Microsoft Kinect and incorporated into the 3D city model. Using this newly created digital model, various analyses and simulations can be calculated and the results displayed. Changes to the form of the styrodur blocks, such as when they are trimmed or shaped, or changes to their position are updated directly in the scene, the simulation updating accordingly in real time. This is what facilitates the seamless interface between the digital tool and the architect’s familiar way of working by making it possible for a physical working model, as commonly used by architects, to interact directly with interactive design supporting simulations and analyses in real time.
Technology:
Microsoft Kinect, Multitouch Table, CCV, Reactivision, WPF, OpenGL
Supervisors:
Gerhard Schubert, Eva Artinger
Video:
