- Howdy.
My name is Hassan Anifowose.
I'm a third year PhD student here
in the College of Architecture.
My research is on building
information modeling, BIM,
and virtual reality, VR,
game design for human building interaction
in architectural design education.
Architectural education currently depends
on the studio environment,
which means that the professors
and the students are
always in the same space
and trying to make designs work.
However, with the arrival
of the COVID-19 pandemic,
moving to remote learning
became a very difficult process,
especially when it comes
to explaining abstract
architectural concepts.
I suddenly realized that it was more
than just starting a Zoom call
but we had to exchange a lot of sketches
and a lot of virtual meetings
just to make sure that we're
passing across knowledge.
My research is focused
on how effective learning
can be improved with
the gamification process
by employing BIM and VR.
Part of the questions my
research will be asking
will be how well can this be done?
And if it can be done,
how much of the knowledge can
be passed across much better
than the conventional methods
that are currently being adopted?
Now, we've created two gaming scenarios.
To understand how gaming works,
we realized that if the
gaming is too difficult,
people tend to abandon it.
If the game becomes too easy,
people don't wanna come back to it.
We designed two game scenarios
because based on literature,
we've realized that
developing game content
for AR and VR in architectural education
is a very tedious process
and that's why there's not so many
teaching applications out there.
The first gaming scenario explores
and allows users to
explore a virtual world.
We've recreated the Farnsworth House,
designed by the famous architect
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
in a virtual scenario
and we're enabling users
to explore this scenario
and getting accustomed to
the building components.
Now, these building components
are also alongside the abstract concepts,
which are really difficult
to explain verbally
and even with sketches,
it takes a long time.
Users explore this scenario
and they answer quizzes
after listening to narratives recorded
by professors that hold narratives.
Now, that is game scenario one.
Game scenario two sees
that users are exploring
a new blank, vacant wall
but this time around,
they're recreating what
they've experienced
in game scenario one
with building components
now with time back building
information modeling level
of develop, LODs,
to different levels of the game,
which means for every stage of the game
that is completed,
the student gets to move
to the next game level.
Now, what is spectacular
about this next game level
is that it presents a brand new set
of assemblage parts,
which are more difficult to
assemble than the previous one.
This research is gonna study
how well students can
put those parts together
and how fast they can put it together.
After the game scenario two exercise,
they go ahead and answer
a series of tests,
questions, that still measures
how much effective learning has happened.
We're hoping that in real applications,
this game can be used to
pass down more knowledge
from professors in a virtual world.
One extra feature of the game
is that we've created it in such a way
that professors and students
can be in the same space
virtually and real time,
which hopefully will increase
the learning effectiveness.
I wanna say a big thank you to Dr. Wei Yan
and Dr. Manish Dixit
for their very, very intense support
throughout this period
and also, a big thank
you to Dr. Stephen Caffey
and Dr. Ann McNamara
who are part of my committee.
Thank you.
