Augmented Reality: Dream App or Disaster for Cities?? Be2Camp London 8 Oct 2009Dr. Cindy Frewen Wuellner, FAIAKansas City @urbanverse cfw (at) frewenarchitects (dot) comUniversity of Houston Frewen Architects Inc

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Content

public projects

housing & schools

master planning

In association w/ Sasaki

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prosperity planetcommunication

forecasting

architecture

The UC-San Diego campus had suffered a revolution in the last decades.

The vibrant campus had been swept away by the Rose Canyon quake. The campus had reverted to a woodsy, low-density style, with buildings that might just as well have been prefab Quonsets.

In a sad, sad way it reminded Robert of the campus’s earliest years.

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The naked eye view showed concrete walls, seamed here and there with silvery lines.

[looking thru wearable lenses]: As he stepped through the doorway, Robert’s view shifted to some kind of standard enhancements; now the lighting came from gas mantle lamps set in the walls. The shadowed concrete was gone. These walls were built from large stones, squared with chisels, fitted together.

Robert reached out to touch the wall, snatched his hand back as he felt rough stone, not clean concrete!

1. What is augmented reality?2. How might it change cities

and buildings?3. What does it mean to us?

Consequences – why does AR matter?

Social Media

Landscape

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AThe Conversation Prism Brian Solis +JESS

AEC Entry Points

Who We Are

21% Creators

Edelson's Law

"The number of important insights that are not being made is

increasing exponentially with time."

Social NetsTwitter

Intelligent Transportation

1950 1980 2000

Internet

Metaverse Roadmap

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Social networks; peer to peer

Representations of reality; maps

Second Life

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Metaverse Roadmap modified

Metaverse Roadmap

• In augmented reality, technologies enhance the external physical world for the individual, through the use of location-aware systems and interfaces that process and layer networked information on top of our everyday perception of the world.

Azuma’s Definition - 1997

• combines real and virtual • is interactive in real time • is registered in 3D

Augmented Reality

Definition - wikipedia

• Augmented reality (AR) is a field of computer research which deals with the combination of real-world and computer-generated data (virtual reality), where computer graphics objects are blended into real footage in real time.1. live video imagery - computer-generated

graphics. 2. sensors and actuators - motion-tracking data,

fiducial markers recognition using machine vision and the construction of controlled environments

Milgram's Reality-Virtuality Continuum - 1994

EU Study: Internet of Things – An Action Plan for Europe

Major next step:• From a network of interconnected computers

• To a network of interconnected objects• From books to cars, from electrical appliances

to food.

CFW’s Prognostications

1. AR makes the invisible visible.2. AR gives power to people and

paradoxically takes it away.3. The more virtual becomes real, the

less difference there is between virtual and real.

Augmented Reality Slideshow

Mirror/Virtual Representations

Oakland Crimespotters Map

Twitter Trendsmap

Layar – on android cell phones

Layar - Tweetmondo

Layar - Brightkite

AR Browsers -Robotvision

AR RFID Lab Markers

Quick Response Codes

AR+RFID Lab – Interactive Mirrors using small markers

Layar – Augmented Games

Heads Up Display

Heads Up display – wearable

lenses

McCullough, Digital Ground, 2004

Technological Extensions

Heads Up Display

New York Phantom City Tour

Times Square NYC Networked Omniscient

Exhibit

Augmented Reality Paths

1. Fantasy worlds – intentional fiction2. Representations – maps 3. Layers on real world

– In handhelds– On desktops– In real world – thru “heads up” devices or

on digitized surfaces

AR Purposes

1. Gather data2. Share 3. Represent4. Organize

• Think in terms of input and output• Raw data and manipulated

Consequences• What does AR mean to cities and

buildings?

• What does AR mean to us?

The Future is already here – It’s just unevenly distributed.

William Gibson

Consequences

1. Sensors2. Open Design3. V/R Trade-offs

McLuhan’s Tetrad

Augmented Reality

More DataConnectivityShared Knowledge

Rainbow’s EndLess PrivacyLess Control

Building Boxes

Awareness of energy use

Resource useReconnects to location

FTFCommuting to work/9-5 work

Schools, stores, libraries

Travel

Great Green Opportunities!!!

Who Controls, who has

access to Information?

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