EXPLORING VIRTUAL REALITY IN ARCHITECTURE EDUCATION

Dr. Annisa Ummihusna Abdul Ghani

The Covid-19 pandemic significantly disrupted architecture education, particularly limiting hands-on learning experiences such as site visits. A survey conducted by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in 2020 found that only certain aspects of the architecture curriculum could be effectively delivered through online platforms (RIBA, 2020). This highlighted the need for strategic planning to integrate digital tools into architectural education. As a result, exploring immersive learning technology, such as virtual simulations, has become essential in providing students with experiential learning opportunities that substitute physical site visits. Immersive virtual reality (IVR) has emerged as a valuable alternative (Ummihusna & Zairul, 2021), allowing students to engage with architectural spaces in ways that were previously impossible during pandemic restrictions.

Architectural understanding is deeply rooted in personal experiences from childhood, shaping how individuals perceive and interact with spaces. For architecture students, reflecting on and deliberately working through their own spatial experiences is essential to developing a deeper design perspective (Zumthor, 2010). But how do you replicate that without being on-site. IVR creates digital environments where students can explore spaces as if they were really there. It gives them the chance to understand scale, proportions, and spatial relationships in a way that traditional methods simply can’t achieve. (Ummihusna & Zairul, 2022).

In an architecture studio, we introduced a tool called Architectural Spatial Experience Simulation (ASES), a VR simulation of different types of spaces with a spatial trait regularly manipulated during the architectural space design process (e.g., the shape of volume, volume size, opening position). Before using it, we asked students about their previous experiences with different spaces. Some had never been inside a cathedral, museum or a historical building.

Architectural Spatial Experience Simulation (ASES)

With ASES, they could explore these spaces virtually while waiting for their turn for the tutorial session in the studio, and the results were encouraging. Students who previously struggled to grasp spatial concepts started engaging with design on a deeper level. What really stood out was how IVR changed the way students approached learning. Some used to rely on memorization, simply sketching floor plans without fully understanding them. After using IVR, they started asking more questions, analyzing spaces more critically, and thinking beyond just form and function. The shift from surface learning to deep learning was undeniable (Ummihusna et al., 2024).

Integrating IVR into architecture education isn’t just a temporary fix, it’s a glimpse into the future. It offers an alternative for site visits while opening new possibilities for design exploration. As educators, embracing this technology means giving students the tools to experience architecture in a whole new way, no matter where they are.

References:

RIBA. (2020). RIBA Publishes Results of Covid-19 Student Survey. Royal Institute of British Architects. https://www.architecture.com/knowledge-and-resources/knowledge-landing-page/riba-publishes-covid-19-student-survey-results

Ummihusna, A., & Zairul, M. (2021). Investigating immersive learning technology intervention in architecture education : a systematic literature review. Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, 14(1), 264–281. https://doi.org/10.1108/JARHE-08-2020-0279

Ummihusna, A., & Zairul, M. (2022). Exploring immersive learning technology as learning tools in experiential learning for architecture design education. Open House International, 47(2). https://doi.org/10.1108/ohi-01-2022-0020

Ummihusna, A., Zairul, M., Jalil, H. A., & Sulaiman, P. S. (2024). Immersive virtual reality in experiential learning for architecture design education : an action research. Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1108/JARHE-06-2023-0266

Zumthor, P. (2010). Thinking Architecture (3rd ed.). Birkhauser-Publisher for Architecture.

Tarikh Input: 20/05/2025 | Kemaskini: 20/05/2025 | marini