Virtual reality - improving the fidelity of architectural visualization

With the rise of Computer Aided Design (CAD) software, digital media have been applied ubiquitously to architectural design. CAD not only works as a visualization technology but also as a way to transform the process of architectural design. It revolutionizes architectural design radically. During CAD's development, computer image, computer animation, and virtual reality were introduced as the main media of architectural visualization. As the ultimate computer-generated visualization, today virtual reality is gaining more and more attention from architects and clients. It improves the fidelity of architectural communication in architectural design. Unlike other visualization mediums, with virtual reality, the audience is not passive but is a player in a virtual environment. In fact, virtual reality is not only a communication medium. With virtual reality, the audience can interact in the virtual world just as it does in the physical world, so virtual reality will become the final product of architectural design as the virtual world versus the physical world one day.

The primary purpose of this thesis is to explore how virtual reality can improve the fidelity of architectural visualization as a communication medium.