ON ARCHITECTURE
— PHILOSOPHY OF
ARCHITECTURE
10th International Conference and Exhibition
Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Gallery of Science and Technology
Belgrade, Serbia
Renate Weissenböck, KEYNOTER
Renate is an architect with extensive experience in design. In her research, she explores the role of different digital media in the design process, such as industrial robots and Augmented Reality, working in the tension field between human, craft and machine.
Augmented Design Experiments
Abstract
The advent of the use of digital technology in architecture has led to a disconnection between digital and physical matter (Mitchell and McCullough 1995). One way to bridge this gap is to implement Augmented Reality (AR). Unlike Virtual Reality (VR), which takes place in fully virtual environments, AR enables the superimposition of digital objects with our real world (Weissenböck, 2021). The easier accessibility of AR devices and software allows us to turn even our smartphones into AR devices by equipping them with specific apps (Wang, Ong, and Nee 2016; Abboud 2014). AR is a powerful tool for architects. The incorporation of AR technologies into architecture fosters the exploration of interactive design processes in an interplay between digital media and immersive spatiality.
The featured work provides insights into two pedagogical experiments using AR technologies in design courses to conceive bespoke architectural solutions for existing spaces and environments.
The seminars explore the application of AR on both domestic and urban scales, as well as indoors and outdoors. One course examines the design of customized structures for students’ own living spaces, the other one the design of a new information center within an existing urban campus. These seminars were conducted between 2020 and 2022 at Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences (Germany) and Graz University of Technology (Austria). With the help of a newly developed AR software (Fologram) a direct connection between 3D modeling (Rhinoceros3D), parametric design (Grasshopper) and holographic immersion can be established. This enabled students to design in real time and at 1:1 scale, in an overlay of real space and digital models. Rapid testing and adjustment of design options in response to changing circumstances and needs was encouraged, opening the students’ mind to a new way of design workflow.
Short Biography
Renate Weissenböck is an architect with extensive experience in design and realization of complex projects. She is a professor at Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences (Germany), a lecturer at FH Joanneum University of Applied Sciences (Austria), and a post-doc researcher at Brno University of Technology (Czech Republic). In her research, she explores the role of different digital media in the design process, such as industrial robots and Augmented Reality, working in the tension field between human, craft and machine. Renate holds a Master of Architecture from the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, a Master in Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University in New York, and a PhD from Graz University of Technology. She has worked with internationally recognized architecture firms Asymptote Architecture and Coop Himmelb(l)au. Renate has been teaching and researching at Graz University of Technology, Vienna University of Technology, University of Innsbruck, Art University Linz, University of Applied Sciences in Munich, and Kennesaw State University in the U.S.