Technology – MARQ eec

The importance of architecture in the metaverse

Architecture is a half art and half science, it shows a form of creative expression that allows society to look at its environment and also responds to the needs of society, currently the metaverse is a space where users develop through virtual avatars and where architects must create spaces for the development of human activities in this virtual world.

What is the metaverse?

The word Metaverse appeared for the first time in 1992 thanks to the American writer Neal Stephenson in his novel Snow Crash, which describes a collective virtual space compatible and convergent with reality. In the book, people use digital avatars of themselves to explore the virtual world and escape from their reality.

Several movies such as Matrix or Ready Player One took up this concept, where people require an avatar to access the virtual space, but where the creation of original characters was limited by a few elements. On the other hand, the video game Fornite began to exploit in a certain way the interaction between people and technologies to create experiences similar to those of the real world, where interaction and communication are essential elements.

Currently, the technology communities consider the metaverse to be a developing idea that is seen as a new version of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), where entertainment, work, and academic activities will be possible.

The metaverse is the digital realm in which any idea that can be created can exist, so for architecture, it represents an opportunity to create “a parallel world”, an area of possibilities, without any restrictions with a massive demand for content to generate the rise of digital architecture and create virtual spaces such as stadiums, entire cities or recreate buildings that exist in the real world.

Architecture in the metaverse

Architecture in the real world is responsible for the construction of spaces where human social activities are developed, such as housing, leisure, and social entertainment, so it is one of the basic elements of the metaverse world since in this virtual space people can interact, and it is here where architecture becomes important to develop the spaces of coexistence in the metaverse, as it is the cultural expression of the moment.

In addition, the three-dimensional characteristics and design methods of construction determine the natural connection between construction and 3D visualization technology, since virtual constructions existed before virtual worlds. In the construction industry, design software is used to make three-dimensional drawings, which could be an antecedent of virtual architecture.

However, the difference between virtual construction in the design process and virtual construction in the context of the metaverse is the interactivity, so in this space, architects will not only have to create plans but also integrate their knowledge to develop different projects, since the creation of the digital environment where the interaction between avatars will take place will test the design of space for avatars, with needs different from those of people in the real world.

Thus, architecture takes on great relevance in the metaverse because there are already real estate and real estate development companies that are promoting the acquisition of land in the virtual world, so the architect plays a very important role in collaboration with professionals from various branches of visual development, within the metaverse to create a space where users, through avatars, can access a parallel world very similar to the real one.

The first virtual building in the metaverse

A Danish architectural firm designed the Viceverse building for Virtue Worldwide, the creative agency powered by Vice Media Group, considered the first virtual building in the metaverse.

This virtual office is white, with a corrugated facade and multiple levels that can be accessed through a central tunnel, employees are planned to work through NFTs, and clients will attend presentations and demonstrations of recent projects.

Architecture is one of the main axes in the development of digital environments for the metaverse.

By: Ingrid Luna

Foster & Partners collaborates with Boston Dynamics to monitor construction progress with Spot

As part of Boston Dynamics’ Early Adopter Program, Foster + Partners has been exploring the use of Spot®, the agile robot that climbs stairs and traverses rough terrain with ease as a tool to capture and monitor progression on-site. The practice’s Applied Research + Development group (ARD) has been working with Boston Dynamics to explore the potential of a robot in a dynamic environment such as a construction site, capturing changes on a regular basis, and being able to easily compare the ‘as-designed’ models against the ‘as-built’ reality.

Construction sites are inherently dynamic environments, where changes need to be tracked and measured on a regular basis, capturing errors in time to meet the project timeframe and budget. With several contractors working in tandem on site, there is a need for a process that can allow for constant, quick and consistent precision monitoring of the works, which can ensure that potential deviation from the design – which may affect later works – can be picked up on time. Sequential scans also help supervise procurement and logistics and ensure that timeframes can be kept under check. If done manually, the process is time consuming and may potentially yield scans that cannot be easily compared against each other. Spot can be controlled remotely, is terrain-agnostic and can also repeatedly follow a pre-mapped route – while avoiding obstacles or even climbing stairs – making it an optimal tool to be used to scan building sites on a regular basis with minimum resources and time.

Energy monitor can find electrical failures before they happen

A new system devised by researchers at MIT can monitor the behavior of all electric devices within a building, ship, or factory, determining which ones are in use at any given time and whether any are showing signs of an imminent failure. When tested on a Coast Guard cutter, the system pinpointed a motor with burnt-out wiring that could have led to a serious onboard fire.

The new sensor, whose readings can be monitored on an easy-to-use graphic display called a NILM (non-intrusive load monitoring) dashboard, is described in the March issue of IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, in a paper by MIT professor of electrical engineering Steven Leeb, recent graduate Andre Aboulian MS ’18, and seven others at MIT, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the U.S. Naval Academy. A second paper will appear in the April issue of Marine Technology, the publication of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers.