Augmented reality enables users to sense and experience architecture that doesn’t exist yet

How can we increase our understanding and commitment to environmentally friendly architecture? There is much evidence to suggest that visualization using AR can help us.

“AR” stands for augmented reality. AR combines actual reality with digital reality via a digital display, often a mobile phone.

Using an app, you can bring the digital into your real surroundings. Researchers have now used this technology to promote more sustainable architecture.

This is because people’s behavior and use of cities play a major role in society. However, active participation can be challenging, often due to a lack of knowledge. You cannot engage in something you do not know anything about.

What is AR and how can it help us?

Researchers at SINTEF and NTNU have recently developed an AR app which can show how different facade materials on a sports hall in Oslo would affect CO₂ emissions.

“Our aim was to find out whether this could increase people’s understanding, interest and commitment to sustainable architecture. We thought it was fantastic,” says Claudia Moscoso, Research Manager at SINTEF.

The study, which is part of the EU project ARV, was conducted at Voldsløkka secondary school and cultural center. Voldsløkka school opened last year and is the first positive energy school in Oslo. A sports hall that has not yet been built was used as a simulated building in the app. This enabled participants to see the hall in its future environment.

The visual information is taken from the real urban background. This ensures a better understanding of the building in its context.

“In this way, the participants saw what the building would look like with different facade materials, and how using different materials would affect the sustainability of the building,” explains Moscoso.

Both laypeople and experts took part

Participants in the study were mainly recruited via social media and email lists. The group consisted of 27 men and women aged between 22 and 63. The participants included both people with a background in architecture and/or sustainability and those without such a background. Twelve of them (44.4%) had an education within the field, while 15 (55.6%) did not.

Using the AR app, participants were, for example, able to explore how different facade materials would affect the sports hall’s CO₂ emissions. These materials included five types of exterior cladding and two types of window glass. Different locations for integral solar cells were also explored.

Afterwards, the participants were asked to give their opinion of the study they had taken part in. They evaluated both the app itself (ease of use, usefulness and realism), and their own understanding, interest and commitment to sustainability issues.

An effective tool

The results showed that there were no significant differences between men and women, or between experts and non-experts, in their assessment of either the app or their level of interest in the environment.

When the perceived user-friendliness and usefulness of the AR app was considered to be higher, the level of understanding, interest and commitment to sustainable architecture was also higher. Furthermore, the greater the interest, the greater the willingness to engage.

However, while technology can generate interest in something, it is just a first step along the way.

“To turn interest into real engagement and action, we need to know what we are doing. Technological solutions must be user-friendly, useful and realistic, and they must be incorporated into a comprehensive strategy for citizen engagement,” says the SINTEF researcher.

The results of the study are being taken further by researchers at SINTEF’s VR lab, where work is under way on both VR and AR technologies to increase the level of engagement among citizens both in Norway and abroad.

“Our researchers and developers are now working to create a VR tool to showcase the sustainable choices made for Voldsløkka school. We will also be creating a new version of the AR tool to increase the environmental engagement among residents of the city of Palma, Mallorca,” says Moscoso.

“We strongly believe that these technologies will help people gain a greater understanding and enthusiasm for the field of sustainable architecture and cities,” she says.

Related research is published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior Reports.