Collaborative and virtual architectural design in second life: FINC-AV experiment

The use and evolution of information and communication technologies is widening not only the process of communicating architecture but also it is challenging what we design and also how we design. The focus of this paper is to present and discuss a collaborative and virtual architectural design studio jointly undertaken by the Schools of Architecture of Toulouse in France, and Laval University in Québec City, Canada, which was carried out during the Fall semester of 2007. In the context of our experiment, FINC-AV (Forme, Information, Novation, Conception - Architecture Virtuelle), activities are held by two geographically distant studios that communicate and coordinate design information and tasks using the multi-user networked 3D virtual world Second Life (SL).