Concrete meets virtual reality
Architecture student Eliot Blenkarne has been awarded the New Zealand Concrete Society Prize for his use of virtual reality to explore concrete buildings.
The research, part of Eliot’s Master’s thesis, offers a way to experience a space before it is built.
“Rather than looking at plans on paper, or renders on a computer screen, you can put a headset on and move through the building. You see how light enters, the textural qualities, get a sense of the atmosphere and grasp the scale.”
Eliot uses game engines, similar to those used to make computer games, to create the spaces.
He has virtually reimagined works of two architects renowned for their use of concrete, Tadao Ando and Peter Zumthor, and designed an art gallery made entirely of concrete for Wellington.
“The intention is to demonstrate how technology can be used to represent the built environment and is an exploration of how these new tools can be used within a traditional design process.”
Eliot was nominated for the award by Lecturer in Interdisciplinary Digital Design Technologies, Tane Moleta who says, “What sets Eliot’s work apart is his ability to communicate the material characteristics of concrete in a manner that has yet to be matched in my decade of teaching.”