Thanks to Hugo Gernsback and his influence on science fiction and technology, his 1963 TV Glasses invention was a stepping stone for the evolution of virtual reality. Fast forward 50 years and VR is now an accessible and viable option for almost everyone, especially architects and designers.

According to the AIA's 2018 firm survey, The Business of Architecture, it has been recorded that 67 percent of large firms are utilizing VR technology within their practice. With relatively affordable VR options like the Oculus Rift, Google Daydream, and Samsung Gear, almost anyone can purchase the technology to integrate virtual reality into their design process. However, with its apparent accessibility, has VR become a critical factor in successfully communicating architectural ideas to groups like clients and students? Only so much can be seen in drawings and renderings. Architecture must also be felt to be understood, and perhaps leaping into virtual reality is a viable step.

Allowing 2D drawings and renderings to "come to life," VR adds an extra level of understanding to the immersive experience allowing the individuals to visually and spatially understand what is achievable. For an architect to explain and translate what exactly is being built with drawings and models is one thing. Allowing someone to be within the 3D model and see the space it lives in is where VR becomes a champion for the profession. With information and design ideation at their fingertips, architects can receive data from programs like Revit, Rhino, and Grasshopper 3D and transform them into immersible worlds. Take the visualization firm Sonny+Ash for example. Already making a name for themselves in creating realistic virtual spaces, the company allows for firms like Gensler, HOK, and Perkins Eastman to showcase their projects on a grander scale before construction even takes place. Subtle details like furniture patterns and lighting on reflective surfaces help project a livable and relatable reality for clients to experience. 

Now frequent teaching tool in design studios, schools like USC and SCI-Arc, to name a few, are using VR and its capabilities to help instruct the fundamentals of building design while exploring the usage and understanding of space. Projects like Games of Deletion and The Blindspot Initiative allow individuals to enter into a virtual world where experimentation is explored. Through this form of spatial exploration, VR acts as a communication catalyst for discussing design, prototyping, and design theory.

Pushing the limits of structural design through VR allows everyone to be on the same page and subsequently "speak the same language” by creating spaces that are familiar. Brian Hopkins, of Ennead Architects, shares his thoughts on data visualization and VR stating, “...it makes the quantifiable qualitative. We’re humanizing the data.” After all, architecture at its core is a practice that revolves around placing and organizing objects within a space. Tools like VR allow for the unbuilt to be explored, reimagined, and understood. Is VR changing architecture's reality? The answer is simple, yes. Now, the design process has become a beautiful collection of data, and with the help of data visualization tools, virtual reality is merely a place for immersive analytics to live and thrive.  

Like most pioneering tools and technology, there is always a bit of hesitancy in regards to its application and user adaptability within the field. However, whether it be in practice or academia, virtual reality has already made an impression on its usefulness and functionality within architecture. Presenting ideas to clients becomes faster allowing them to understand the architectural decisions designers are facing. Students can explore and understand conceptualized ideas taken from computer screens. Granted virtual reality won't solve all of our design problems, and isn't the "one tool to rule them all," but it's safe to say its progression within the practice will only gain momentum. 

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