ON HOW TO EMPOWER ARCHITECTURAL STUDENTS THROUGH THE USE OF IMMERSIVE TECHNOLOGIES

Technologies considered immersive, Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) are the most likely candidates to head a new digital revolution. The worlds that open to interact virtually with objects, people and places to which we do not have physical access are a source of applications for the scientific field, business, medicine and also architecture. In fact, the teaching of architecture offers a favourable space for the introduction of immersive technologies and novel methodologies that integrate digital paradigms. The traditional architectural learning methodologies present multiple approaches in common with what is understood as digital teaching, as for example, learning by doing, the approach to problems through trial and error, the emphasis on the creative and discovery aspects, or the conception of professors as a counsellors and facilitators rather than as mere transmitters of knowledge Furthermore, learning Architecture using immersive technologies is becoming essential in the education of future architects, as they must learn new tools that will be required during their professional career that helps to promote a better understanding of architectural projects. This paper describes some project based learning approaches to teach Architecture at the Madrid-based CEU University's Digital Fabrication Laboratory (Fab Lab Madrid CEU), that raise students to use VR and AR technologies to explain their architectural projects and to analyse in depth buildings that they do not have access to or that are physically away from them. These technologies have also been used to teach how to use digital fabrication tools (3D printers, laser cutters, vinyl cutters and milling machines), that are needed to make architectural models that help students to visualize in 3D complex architectural projects.