Architectural design creativity in Multi-User Virtual Environment: A comparative analysis between remote collaboration media

Abstract

Previous studies have argued that a Multi-User Virtual Environment has the potential to foster creative collaboration, but empirical studies that examine this claim are rare. With a focus on architectural design, this study has investigated the affordance of Multi-User Virtual Environment for the production of novel and appropriate solutions in remote collaborative environments. Forty-four participants produced design solutions using Multi-User Virtual Environment and online sketching in remote collaboration. Four expert-judges assessed the novelty and appropriateness of the collaborative results, following the Consensual Assessment Technique. The results analyzed by paired samples T-test indicated that in remote collaboration, Multi-User Virtual Environment’s scores for both novelty and appropriateness were partially higher than those of online sketching. In remote collaboration, the immersion by avatars and co-presence with others in Multi-User Virtual Environment were perhaps more effective due to explicit communication cues used to share spatial information and collaborative procedure, compared to the two-dimensional, static representation of online sketching.

A Critical Review of Computational Creativity in Built Environment Design

“…The study found a slight decrease in creativity when using the virtual communication. In contrast, in another case study for architectural design [81] significant increases in the creativity scores were observed when using a multi-user virtual environment compared to using sketches.…”

The Urban CoCreation Lab—An Integrated Platform for Remote and Simultaneous Collaborative Urban Planning and Design through Web-Based Desktop 3D Modeling, Head-Mounted Virtual Reality and Mobile Augmented Reality: Prototyping a Minimum Viable Product and Developing Specifications for a Minimum Marketable Product

“…Such multiple user virtual environments (MUVEs) allow users "to access virtual contexts, to interact with digital artifacts, to represent themselves through 'avatars,' (and) to communicate with other participants" [57]. From the planning and design collaboration perspective, MUVEs have been seen to support remote collaboration and education in architectural designing [56,58,59]. Moreover, collaborating while observing and visualizing other stakeholders' movements and design trials enhanced explorative creativity compared to working alone [59].…”

A Survey on Applications of Augmented, Mixed and Virtual Reality for Nature and Environment

“…Systems developed for product design such as [45,50] usually implement shared 3D object manipulation, including viewing, changing and annotation of 3D objects. Remote collaboration systems are also popular in architectural design, where systems usually integrate the viewing of houses, rooms and furniture while allowing the users to discuss either via audio or integrated tools such as drawing in the virtual environment [51][52][53]. Many professional remote collaboration systems such as [54][55][56][57][58][59] typically include screen sharing and media sharing as interaction possibilities.…”