Students from ARCH7015 Generative Structures, led by Dr Catherine Keys, Associate Professor Fred Fialho Teixeira and Dr Kristina Knox, recently took part in an immersive virtual site visit at the UQ VisLab, exploring their semester project site in Laidley, Queensland through 360-degree video.
Using the VisLab’s Igloo 360 immersive visualisation environment, students were able to experience the site at an immersive scale, with panoramic views and spatial audio helping them perceive the surrounding landscape, spatial relationships and environmental character. The shared 360° environment provided a quick and intuitive way to experience site conditions that can be difficult to communicate through conventional photographs, maps and aerial imagery alone. The VisLab’s Igloo system is specifically designed to support group-based teaching and visualisation using 360-degree media, spatial data and digital content.
The virtual visit supports the ARCH7015 semester project, which focuses on the design of a large-scale equestrian facility around Narda Lagoon, Vaux St Lions Park and the adjoining cricket field in Laidley. Students move from contextual site analysis and masterplanning toward generative and parametric approaches to large-span architectural structures. The course outline incorporates Site Immersion in the VisLab as part of this design process.
By bringing immersive site media into the classroom, the session demonstrates how the VisLab can support architectural education by complementing physical site visits and conventional site documentation. The immersive environment also gives students a shared space in which to revisit, observe and discuss site conditions as their design ideas develop.
