This study conducted in 2019 as a part of a master’s thesis supervised by Assoc. Prof. Sema Alaçam, Architectural Design Computing Ph.D. Program (MBL) in Istanbul Technical University, partially funded by Istanbul Technical University’s Scientific Research Project Foundation (MYL-2018–41225), with thanks to everyone who helped shape VRiC’s early stages.
In the scope of the study, a virtual learning environment (VLE) is proposed in order to benefit from the potentials of the virtual reality (VR) technology in the context of construction education for architecture students. A vast number of studies show that learning environments, where a strong relation is established between students and the information have positive effect on learners. Accordingly, learning enivronments should encouraged students to learn by exploration in a participatory way. In contrast, learning environments related to construction education are mostly lack of such features. Learning environments where students are not able to have an active interaction with the information is insufficient and ineffective for the construction education. In this context, it is deduced that establishment of a learning environment where users examine building components by various interactions may enhance students learning process. Accordingly, a learning environment is proposed, titled Virtual Reality in Construction (VRiC), where learner can explore architectural buildings, its components and its materials with an immersive experience. Various user interfaces and user interactions are created in order to compose interactions between the users and the architectural elements.
Keywords: interactive environments, cultural heritage, procedural texturing, photo mapping