‘Digital 3D’ concept mixes augmented reality with architecture

We didn’t go to Smart People University, so Greg Tran’s thesis project for the Harvard Graduate School of Design, “Mediating Mediums,” sort of sails over our head at times. Still, we really liked the parts we did understand. The basic idea is to extend augmented reality into being a whole lot more “reality.” That means instead of just viewing a 3D model or playing a game through the lens of a mobile device, your entire surroundings are augmented and transformed by interactive and immersive 3D graphics and 3D applications. A helpful analogy from Greg’s video is the idea of being in a “place” when you use an application or a webpage, and that “place” then provides you with specific capabilities (Photoshop’s toolkit) or interactions (YouTube video comments). The flip side of that analogy is that from a single “window” on a computer you can view just about anything. By extending these metaphors into the real world, the project visualizes life lived inside of architecture that is as maleable and responsive as our computers. Of course, none of this is actually real technology yet; you would need Star Wars-level holograms or wear-always video glasses to actually pull this off. Still, Greg can dream, and boy can he dream. Video is after the break.

Mediating Mediums - The Digital 3d [Short Version] from Greg Tran on Vimeo.