Transitioning from 2D to VR in design-review - Resistance to engagement

Paper in proceeding, 2023

Although immersive virtual reality (VR) has been shown to facilitate collaborative understanding of a design, many users remain resistant to its use. Moreover, there is currently a lack of real-world studies investigating why certain users (e.g., architects) are resistant to use VR during design reviews. The aim of this study is to understand the resistance that influence client representatives’ and architects’ interaction with a VRsystem that supports both fully- and non-immersive experiences of the virtual environment. Data were gathered from three VR-workshops, which were part of 3 design review sessions of a new elementary school. Additional data were gathered from four semi-structured interviews with both the architects and client representatives participating in all workshop sessions, the interior architect involved in the project as well as an additional six semi-structured interviews. These additional six interviews involved exterior architects from different firms, who had previously used VR for both informative and design review purposes. The findings suggest that client representatives and the architects had initially been resistant to use VR during the design reviews, but their attitudes changed progressively during the three workshops, in particular that of the architects. The findings also indicate that interactive features in VR (e.g., object manipulation, multi-user) help end users negotiate design requests more efficiently and make informed decision-making. This paper highlights how immersive VR could improve the design review process.