#27: Holographic Architecture

Perceiving space requires a subtle tango of the human body and mind. We use our two eyes to visually experience a space, and our brain takes that and makes a three-dimensional computation and allows us to explore our relationship with depth and scale.

There is a long-standing debate in the architectural discipline between hand-drawing and computer-aided design. Most architects today still find sketching to be an ideal tool for forming ideas where 3D design software tools (like Revit, Rhino, Sketchup) are more suited for the precision and clarity required at later stages of a project — a true visualization of what their work should actually look like in the real world.

When we launched our Kickstarter last year, we worked closely with our partners at Occipital to test out room-scanning via a Structure Sensorusing their own proprietary Scan to CAD service — Canvas.

Canvas makes capturing a 3D model of a room super easy. All you do is tap scan, walk around the room, and watch as a scale-accurate model is built in real-time, right on your iPad.

There are now a myriad of technological tools that let you build, explore and create spaces with just the tap of a button. Architectural modeling and display inside a Looking Glass is an increasingly emerging use case that we find more people asking us about everyday — especially when considering ways to let users explore a three-dimensional space without being confined to a VR headset.

And while there is no direct integration with the tools that many architects currently use, we’ve seen many people using our existing tools like the 3D Model Importer or the Lightfield Photo App to bring their architectural models / scans / photos to life.

We’re especially excited to see more direct applications of holograms in architecture as time goes on. If you’re an architect and are interested in helping us literally build the future, drop us a line at future@lookingglassfactory.com!