Posts

Interview featured in ACSA and Study Architecture website

/in , , /by

 

supporting Architecture in the Age of Mixed Reality: The DAAP Library @ the University of Cincinnati.

Column by Jennifer H. Krivickas/ Assistant Vice President for Integrated Research Head of the Robert A. Deshon and Karl J. Schlachter Library/Adjunct Instructor: DAAP Schools of Design & Art/College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP) University of Cincinnati

At the University of Cincinnati College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP), future-forward faculty are exploring with virtual reality (VR) to conduct research, make, and teach. Consequently the DAAP Library invested in a collection of ‘over the counter’ VR viewers such as Mr. Cardboard, I am Cardboard, P2 popups, unofficial cardboard, smartvr, pocket 360vr, View Master, and a few others. Funnily, since acquiring the viewers late last year, several people have asked “Why?” It is not a bad question per se, but to us the answer is…well, obvious.

DAAP Library users are architects – designers in and of space, so having the ability to create structures that actually look feel and sound like eventual physical structures, is huge. Another part of DAAP is the School of Planning, whose students, through the use of VR tech, are able to better convey size and scope of large-scale projects, a problem 2D renderings and passé, not to mention, unsustainable physical models have always posed. An important component of DAAP is our top-ranked design school where students are already designing all sorts of unorthodox next gen physical and virtual objects from web experiences to transportation to fashion objects and products…all of which can and will be translated, by our students, into and out of, virtual reality.

DAAP faculty member Prof. Ming Tang is teaching Architecture in the age of mixed reality, a studio that explores the relationship between virtual reality and physical architecture. His students investigate mixed reality as a framework that can expand architectural strategies such as environmental conceptualism, user interaction, building function, and construction techniques. In this class, the group studies topics such as physical and digital crossovers, augmented and virtual realities, time and ephemerality and the impacts on both architecture and architecture practice.

Thesis: Layered Space

/in , , /by

This is the thesis book of my graduate student Adam Sambuco: 

Layered Space

Toward an Architecture of Superimposition

by Adam J. Sambuco
University of Cincinnati, 2018

Degree. Master of Architecture

Thesis Chair. Ming Tang

Historically, the physical nature of architecture has caused it to remain functionally static despite evolving theories, materials, and technologies. The design of spaces and the actions of occupants are fundamentally limited by the laws of physics. This thesis and associated project explore and present ways in which architectural spaces can incorporate extended reality to enhance the design and use of buildings in ways that were not previously possible. Due to their part physical, part-virtual nature, superimposed spaces can change over time, on demand, or contextually, based on their inhabitants. Extended reality can assist with wayfinding, socialization, organization, personalization, contextualization, and more. This thesis asserts that it is essential for architects to familiarize themselves with this technology, exploring new methods of design and presentation for such radically different end products.

It is with this in mind that this document establishes the basic functionality, terminology, and history of extended reality before moving on to more modern capabilities. After a glimpse into the near future of XR and a look at its relationship to architecture, the philosophical basis for treating the virtual as real is explored. Having establishing its history, functionality, and reality, the idea of spatial superimposition is then explored through the lenses of visitor, designer, and presenter. My previous work is then covered, touching on how XR technology will become normalized in society and investigating an approach to XR renovations that brings virtual mansions to the masses. Finally, my thesis project, an XR-enabled media the que in downtown Dallas, is introduced and my processes of creation, experimentation, and presentation are detailed so that others might learn from and build off them. Despite its large scope and cutting-edge subject matter, this work scrutinizes only a small portion of the changes that extended reality will undoubtedly bring to architecture and greater society.

View the full thesis book. 168 pages. 14MB 

 

VR show in 2018 DAAPworks

/in , , /by

VR show of Prof. Ming Tang’s Architecture studio at UC DAAP, a mix of virtual reality and augmented reality style exhibition. 

Faculty: Ming Tang, Xiaoying Meng

Student: Gabriel Berning, Bhattiprolu Chamundi Saila Snigdha, Owen Blodgett, Mason Boling, Tyler Dunn, Michael Greer, Isaac Keller, Anna Kick,Connor Kramer, Nathan Mohamedali, Aashna Sharad Poddar, Yiying Qiu, Jordan Sauer, Edward Simpson, Dongrui Zhu

 

 

Location: CGC Computer Lab ( 4425 E), DAAP, UC.

Project: Train Station in Beijing, China. Studio brief.

Exhibition  time. 04.24-04.27.

 

 

Pleae check out 15 project posters here. 

 

 

project in Aircraft Interior Expo and Crystal Cabin Award

/in /by

Ming Tang, Blake Lane presented Boeing On-board project, the finalist of 2018 Crystal Cabin Award on 04.11 at Hamburg, Germany on behalf of UC-Live-well-Boeing team.

The Crystal Cabin Award is the only international award for excellence in aircraft interior innovation, donated by the Senate of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg and released by the Crystal Cabin Award Association. This unique honor for outstanding cabin products and concepts was presented for the first time ever on April 17th, 2007 during the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg. The Crystal Cabin Award’s main intention is to initiate a significant improvement in passenger comfort.

The award is designed to motivate companies and research facilities to develop new products and modern designs for aircraft cabin interiors. The development, manufacture and marketing of the innovative products or services must offer essential benefits in terms of usefulness to a potential customer, both to the final consumer as well as to the parts manufacturers.

our project is exhibited at the Crystal Cabin Award at the Aircraft Interior Expo at the Hamburg Messe, Germany 04. 10-12.

More information on the Boeing On-board project is available at CCA award social media release, and the article of UC Magazine.

project featured in UC Magazine

/in , , /by

Flight of the future

UC students, faculty and industry leaders converge at the Live Well Collaborative to create innovative, internationally recognized technology for Boeing.

The project was norminated as the finalist of 2018 Crystal Cabin Award and exhibited at the Crystal Cabin Award at the Aircraft Interior Expo at the Hamburg Messe, Germany 04. 10-12.2018

read the full article here. 

By Jac Kern. UC Magazine

“DAAP professor Ming Tang’s specialty in design visualization, using interactive media like VR and AR to communicate a design concept, made him a perfect fit for this project.

“Sometimes you need a really strong visual to sell an idea,” Tang explains. “We quickly set up a pipeline involving students with graphic design, 3-D modeling and animation skills, scripting and programming as well as user interface. The team assembled some very big ideas into a model people can see and even interact with in VR and AR.”

read the full article here.