Collaborative studio in a virtual environment

Recently, virtual environments (VE) have been increasingly used as settings for design and research. Using VE to visualize ideas from the initial steps of design, the architect is challenged to deal with perception of space, solid and void, without translations to and from a two dimensional media. The goal of the authors´ studies was to identify how designers use and communicate early design ideas by using immersive three-dimensional (3D) VEs and how they describe 3D volumes using a different media. A series of experiments were undertaken, including navigation- and perception-tasks, designing in IVE, transcription of design, remote communication between design partners and controlled observations. They explored initial intentions of 3D-immersive design schemes, textual descriptions and collaborations within IVE. They discuss frameworks and factors influencing how architectural students communicate their proposals in an immersive Virtual Environment Design Studio, and how this approach of design studio enables to understand volumes and spatial relationships.