Mixed Reality Holographic Models for the Interactive and Synergetic Exploration of Space Structures in Architectural Design and Education

The purpose of this paper is to contextualize and introduce the academic potential of Augmented Reality (AR) models based on computer-generated holograms for the experimental exploration of spatial structures in architectural (interactive and immersive) design and education by multiple users. This work is driven by the potential impact of concurrently sharing and interacting with mixed reality (MR) scenes via holographic interfaces. With an interfaceable, scalable, and modular computational architecture, this platform is a powerful resource for multiple users, multiple formats (digital and physical), and multiple physical locations to design as well as assess structural and physical properties. The underlying didactic hypothesis is that holograph and MR offer an unparallel sense of immersion while enabling rapid virtual prototyping and project-driven synergy in combination with physical models. We present results on Augmented/Mixed reality as well as Virtual reality (VR) using devices such as the HoloLens and Vive head-mounted devices (HMD) and hand-held devices (HHD) such as the iOS iPad and iPhones and Android tablets all seeing the same time the same architectural holographic scene and interacting with it.