Virtual Environment Design – Defining a new direction for architectural education

Abstract

This paper considers the design and development of virtual environments (VEs) and the way that it relates to traditional architectural education and practice. The need for practitioners who will contribute to the design of 3D content for multimedia and virtual reality applications is identified. The design of space in a VE is seen as being partly an architectural problem. Therefore, architectural design should play an important role in educating VE designers. Other disciplines, intrinsically related to the issue of VE design, are also identified. Finally, this paper aims at pointing out the need for a new direction within architectural education, which will lead towards a generation of VE architects.