Virtual Reality in Design Education

This study attempts to redefine the manner in which virtual reality (VR) is used by architecture students by developing a new model of digital design education and research: a model that takes advantage of the capabilities of the medium, without limiting the design process or trivializing the new technology. As directly measuring VR’s impact on design education is not easily quantified, it was necessary to identify a surrogate process to assess.

For architecture students, an important spatial ability is the capacity to generate three-dimensional knowledge from two dimensional information. Therefore, spatial ability is an inherent component of design education and, for that reason, this study used it as a surrogate to be measured when assessing VR’s impact on architecture design education.