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paper published in inForma

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Ming Tang’s paper “Architectural visualization in the age of mixed reality” is published by the architectural journal inForma.

Tang, Ming. 2018. “Architectural Visualization in the Age of Mixed Reality.” informa 11: 82–87.

Having been a promising visualization tool since the 1950s, ironically, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) were not widely used in the architectural design and evaluation process due to the high cost of equipment and complicated programming process required. However, with the recent development of head-mounted displays (HMD) such as Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Microsoft HoloLens, and easy-to-use game engines, both VR and AR are being reintroduced as Mixed Reality (MR) instruments into the design industry. This paper explores research related to VR concepts “essential copy” and “physical transcendence” (Bicocca, Levy. 1995), and their use in architectural design studios at the University of Cincinnati. We explored various methods to integrate MR in the architectural design process. This paper discusses two main aspects: (1) how to integrate MR into the design process as a design instrument, and (2) how to valuate MR methods for communicating architectural data, based on the workflow efficiency, rendering quality and users’ feedback.

This issue “Hybrid Realities“of inForma explores architectural discourse by looking at how twenty-first century economic, academic, technological and political shifts have set up conditions for architectural hybridity. We define ‘hybrid’ as points of convergence between different ‘breeds’, resulting in the creation of dynamic architectures and frameworks. Parting from the premise that disciplinary and theoretical crossovers can produce alternate readings and conceptualisations of space, ‘Hybrid Realities’ seeks to discuss the effectual offsprings between two different components, wether typological, disciplinary, idealistic, or others. Similarly, it aims at discussing works and research which places these crossovers in a wider, contextual discussion representative of our current moment in time. Borrowing ‘hybrid’ from biology, the issue situates it within the discussion of the built environment to challenge notions of architectural singularity and highlight the diverse ways in which the field is expanding.  

Interview featured at the Building Design + Construction magazine

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Ming Tang’s interview was featured in the article “The human touch“, by David Malone, editor of the Building Design + Construction magazine. Vol. 31. 04. 2018. The issue is about the TECH REPORT 5.0: Cognitive Architecture, Artificial Intelligence, Real-time Rendering, Digital Media.  Tang discussed the emerging research on eye-tracking and way-finding in Architecture and interior design. 

Project featured in the IDSA’s Innovation magazine

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Our project is featured in the summer edition of IDSA’s Innovation quarterly. “Design for ________”. by Jacqueline Kern. The article discussed the UC and Live Well Collaborative’s Boeing Onboard project which was covered at UC Magazine in Spring 2018.

Interview featured in ACSA and Study Architecture website

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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

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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