Augmented Reality City

Boston, MA, USA

Design Period: Jan. 2019 - Apr. 2019

Designer: Simplex Architecture + Simplex Lab

Project Team: Greg Chung Whan Park, Hyun Woo Lee, Seung Hyup Yeo, Fu Ying

Balancing Act Exhibition Curator: CBT

Photograph: CBT

Recent developments in information technology and the advent of the 4th industrial revolution have led to various factors directly affecting our lives such as the internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), 5G networks, etc. As one of them, augmented reality (AR) emerged as a new factor together with virtual reality (VR). In recent years, various attempts utilizing AR technology have been made in various fields such as mobile and AI, but application examples in the field of architecture are still very limited. 

In order to design and construct architectural buildings, 2D CAD drawings and rendering images visualized by 3D modeling tools are generally used. However, it is not easy to communicate with non-experts who have little understanding and experience about these tools. In order to solve these problems, the information of the buildings in the design, construction, maintenance and management stages will be systematically integrated and visualized in the actual space utilizing augmented reality, so that non-experts can intuitively grasp the problems and suggest solutions. The augmented reality will provide a user interface capable of bare touch and gesture, gesture recognition, etc. as a dynamic learning tool of the user by seamlessly mixing the real world and the virtual world.

Furthermore, as augmented reality technology develops, it will be easily accessible to people at all times utilizing contact lens equipment, instead of heavy wearable equipment, and this will suggest a new paradigm for the way the city operates. In Seoul, numerous sign boards are covering all the commercial buildings, and different urban elements such as the façade of the buildings, road signs, the paving patterns, landscape elements, etc. are trying to reveal themselves more in the street scape. This not only makes the city incongruous, but also does not provide people with the necessary information they need. If the city has the information system that every person in the city wears augmented reality contact lenses and each company or retail shop provides information to those who need information in their own way, physical appearance of the architectural buildings will be simplified, and the information provided to people will be optimized to meet the needs of individuals.