Proposal for a design process method using VR and a physical model

Abstract

Recently, studies on space evaluation using virtual reality (VR) are being performed for a wide range of subjects ranging from those for private houses through to cityscapes of entire towns, and their significance is becoming increasingly important. In addition, architects and interior designers are increasingly making use of simple VR kits to suggest new spaces to customers. However, such studies tend to be used for evaluation only upon personal sight of the virtual space, and joint ownership of the opinion with the designer is difficult to achieve, and there are occasions when there is a mismatch between the virtual reality and the actual reality. In this study, we conduct an experiment using the interior of a car space in which not only the impression of the space but also the operability of the space is evaluated by building a model having identical dimensions to those of the VR model so as to be able to gain an opinion of the sense of faithfulness the virtual space has to the actual (real) space. In addition, by means on an in-space experiment we receive feedback on differences in posture and confirm the usefulness of sense-of-touch feedback for each area of the vehicle’s operation panel. We propose this combination of VR and a physical model as a new design inspection technique through which a designer can share consciousness with an evaluator by conducting a usability evaluation rather than being tied to the concept and practice of a subjective evaluation using a virtual space created by VR.