XR for Transformable and Interactive Design

Abstract

This article aims to show the applicability and evaluation of a teaching-learning method based on user experience (UX) design and extended reality (XR) in architectural studios. In the summer of 2023, the XR Assisted: Transformable and Interactive Design studio utilized the UX+XR teaching-learning method. During the studio, the emphasis was on designing a transformable and interactive architectural installation, with the UX as a center and XR, artificial intelligence, and inmotics as design and visualization tools. In the UX+XR method, the users were the students, and each student designed transformable architecture by applying UX strategies to their specific urban installation users. The UX+XR method had four phases. Each phase incorporated a cross-strategy UX+XR during the design process stages. Using UX+XR, the participants designed an architectural installation where the concepts of transformability, ephemerality, interactivity, flexibility, adaptability, versatility, and playfulness were present. Based on testing the six architectural installations designed during the studio using the UX+XR method, our data showed that XR enhanced the designer's perception, constituted a new means of expression on an accurate scale, and is a highly immersive and interactive resource for communicating ideas and reinforcing visualization, simulation, stimulation, and interaction. XR is a powerful tool that, as used in the designed method, allows an elevated level of visual communication, understanding of spatial dimensions, and an effective multi-user collaborative strategy for evaluating the designed proposals.