Translator: Ilze Garda Reviewer: Robert Tucker
When I was a kid,
my world of imagination was building tree houses.
That was a real playground for creativity and physical work.
I started from the bottom
using old potato boxes just right after potatoes were planted,
and then, with skill, it turned into more complicated structures
supplied in the existing landscapes,
and various elements started to affect the structure,
like the position of the sun, viewpoints, garden,
places to read a book or places overlooking the surroundings.
That was the place where kids were meeting seasonally every year.
I was dreaming and sketching, and making a lot of notes,
but the only way
in which I could totally immerse myself in the perspective of the scene
was by building it with my own hands.
Just like the box on the top of the box, it turned into form and structure.
I remember that the garage and daddy's toolset
was the most familiar computing system at that time.
I was really into action and real doing.
What I wanted to do with that
was to perceptualize that between the space and the imagination.
So I went to the school of architecture.
Years of dedication, hard work, push, and pull.
During the studies, we did a lot of modeling, in fact,
and visuals, and drawings,
but somehow I felt
that it was a language created by architects for architects.
When I first jumped into a project that involved the public,
I eventually realized how weak I was in communicating my designs.
I had the feeling that people were left misunderstood.
However, tools that architects use to visualize spaces
have developed over time.
Even more, the whole context of visual communication
has enriched, from a raw sketch on a piece of paper,
to physical models and digital visualizations.
All these tools correspond to communication,
they are means by which we can deliver the message of the future space.
I think that the architecture and construction industry
is full of failed expectations,
just because of this weak communication.
In every stage,
from client to architect, from architect to builder,
there is just huge frustration and chaos.
For instance, think of yourself in the role of a client.
Your dream, your vision, your feel about the space you want to live in -
what tools do you use?
How can you express your vision?
And the opposite - an architect, with his ambition, with his vision,
and his idea about how your space should be.
What tools does this architect use to communicate it back to you?
How can you talk to each other?
And now, think about the first moment you were truly sure about the space
you're going to live in.
It's reality.
Because reality, guys, is the only way we can understand the future.
It's the only common language we can all understand
when you first enter that bare frame of the building
that barely has a roof on the top,
but you start to have that initial instinct
of how wide or narrow this space will become.
A fun fact here about practice reality.
In order to explain to clients one or another solution,
we used to drag them to the objects that were already finished and showcased.
And I remember myself calling:
"Hey, Ms. or Mr., this is the architect here.
We're going to drop by
and see how the size of your window frames affect the light in your bedroom."
Or that kind of quite odd details.
One thing though,
you had to keep a really good relationship with your clients.
However, professionals think it's possible
to standardize, to systemize, that individual feeling
in data books and tables of measurements.
But would you agree?
Do you think that your feeling about a space
is the same as the person's next to you?
Well, if we look a little bit into the construction process itself,
there are different stakeholders involved,
and each one of them thinks about different criteria.
There is the architect with his vision and context,
there is the engineer
who cares about the numbers and how to stick it all together,
and there is the client,
who just wants to know what the space will look like,
how it's going to be used, right?
Success in architecture is actually hidden in the process
where one clearly communicates with the other, and vice versa.
I had a chance to visit the previews of Venice Biennale of Architecture
and interview architects from all around the world,
where I was curious
about how often clients actually request changes
right after the building is finished.
They were nodding their heads and confirming
that, in fact, greater or lesser significant changes
were made in the last stage of construction
or even after the project was completed.
And you know what?
It hurts more than failed expectations,
it hurts a lot more when you have invested thousands, even millions, in the building.
And you know what?
Actually, the same feeling of lost in translation
happens every day on the construction site.
Expectations do not match reality.
Many mistakes and errors happen on the construction site
because of this weak communication,
because of the miscommunication between the 2D, 3D, and the reality.
There are so many hopes and expectations in this whole process,
while there is so much lost in translation.
And now again, if we come back
to what kind of visualization tools we have right now.
At the end of the day,
drawings, designs, Photoshops
are just a huge illusion, a vision,
a failed attempt to communicate the reality.
A transparent and very close reality check
is what attracted me to virtual reality technologies.
But not only - also the ability to get as close as we can get
to this pure empathic feeling about spaces, cities, and the world.
Without any barriers of knowledge, language, perception, or location,
virtual reality is like a medium,
but it's different from all the ones we know so far.
The synergy between human beings, architecture, and technology
is what fascinates me.
All through history, progress has been driven
by these creative minds and technological innovation:
the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Sydney Opera House,
and the fabulous buildings of Zaha Hadid.
That's why, in 2015,
I built a team of young architects and tech professionals
in order to experiment with that gray zone where architecture meets virtual reality.
That was the right moment
to roll up your sleeves and start experimenting.
We saw an opportunity in VR
that could really become this common language,
a common ground for all the stakeholders involved in the construction process,
that was a tool to communicate in architecture,
to engage and to be able to contribute to architecture.
So, it was almost like back in my young days,
only now my toolbox consisted of a little more complicated gadgets,
wires, optics, and a lot of unknown, but at the same time very intriguing.
We did a little testing on the way:
we compared the 2D paper portfolio
with a 3D model, and the virtual experience.
VR was an obvious winner in communicating this space,
but another interesting aspect arose from that.
People who had the chance of seeing the space in VR
afterwards had a better ability to think in three-dimensional space.
So basically, it is not just a presentation tool,
but it can also be educative.
It can increase the capacity of our brain.
A lot of tries, a lot of errors on the way,
from tech advancement to human perception.
And let me explain to you just a couple of those major struggles that we have.
The first thing is the visualization part.
The hardware that actually does the whole trick in your brain
and allows you to enter that virtual world.
There's not just the one device that you see here,
but there are actually several,
and there are many more under development.
But in every case,
you are the one who is wearing this head-mounted brick on your head
and trying to understand how to get along with this technology.
This is quite a disadvantage for VR
in becoming a medium in daily use.
The second thing is: OK, you have put the glasses on, so what's next?
How do you navigate with it?
You're already familiar with the buttons, with the clicks,
with the touchscreens and swipes,
but what if the whole space around you is your navigation panel?
Nothing works like it worked before
because your whole body becomes a navigation system.
In our project, we use immersive, gesture-based controls.
Here you can use your hand as a remote controller,
and with gestures you let the system understand what you want to do.
The third factor is obviously a human factor.
Motion sickness in virtual reality is created by the disconnection
between what you see visually in the device
and how your body moves.
And it may be quite a bad experience for a lot of people the first time.
That's why we, as developers, have to do everything,
we have to find ways how to provide a pleasant experience for everybody.
The initial reason why we started to play around with VR
was to build something meaningful,
something that would really benefit
the industry of architecture and construction.
But, you know, architects, they just want to do architecture,
they don't want to learn another complicated software,
so the tool had to be simple, intuitive,
that would turn 3D models into virtual experiences
without any extra complications
and employing this power of VR technologies.
I'm sure that virtual reality is the closest reality check
that we can have as human beings right now.
It connects humans with architecture
in a profound way that we have never seen before
and provides us with a trial before the trial,
an ability to simulate the concepts even before they have been built.
With this VR tool in hand,
I no longer have to call my clients and ask permission to enter their houses
to show one or another solution.
I can just simply click an icon on my desktop
and enter the space, and use it for my communication.
So, now, if we have this technology
that can bring us a little bit closer to reality,
then maybe let's not waste materials, resources, man-hours,
on building false expectations.
Let's experience architecture vividly,
let's bring that vivid vision of the space into life.
The world is now standing on an edge
where we are shifting from flat visualizations
towards immersive environments.
And, gosh, I'm so excited
about all those opportunities that VR can bring us,
and we are so looking forward to where it's going to take us.
Thank you.
(Applause)