SL: Learning Architecture In A Virtual World
Terry Beaubois had a problem when he was offered a position teaching
architecture at Montana State University. He wasn't ready to move to
Bozeman, Montana, where the campus is located. So he figured out a way
to teach the course from his home in Northern California. He did it by
creating a virtual classroom in Second Life. But now he wouldn't have
it any other way. Even though he's now based in Bozeman, Beaubois
hasn't abandoned his virtual classroom. In fact he's expanded it into a
program he directs called the Creative Research Lab, which is part of
the school's College of Arts and Architecture.
Second Life, operated by Linden Lab, is a virtual world - built on what looks
like a gaming platform - but for Beaubois and many other users, it's not just
fun and games. It's a place to do real work.
"It's a precursor to where
much of the Internet will be headed in the future," said Beaubois. "It allows
for people to visit other people, create and exchange objects - to do what they
want to do."
Beaubois has created a Second Life environment complete
with his lab and four "islands" where he and his students create structures and
interiors to teach and practice architectural design.
From my home in
Palo Alto, he took me on a tour of his virtual lab which looks a lot like what a
real one might look like. There are posters, diagrams and pictures on the walls,
books on shelves and, in his case, rooms where students can design and place
furniture. I admired the cover of one of his books so he invited me to click on
it to look at drawings and read some text.
I was especially impressed at
the rooms in which students can design, place and show off furniture. I liked a
particular setting but questioned the choice of colors. No problem. He repainted
the walls and re-upholstered the furniture at the click of a mouse. It's a way
for a client to see what a room might look like before actually ordering
furniture. Almost anything is possible in a virtual lab.
Some parts of
his lab reflect the real world. In an effort to show his students objects
they're familiar with, he has an aerial view of the campus with the ability to
zoom in on replicas of real buildings "Creating environments people are familiar
with in real life makes the virtual environment more understandable," he said.
Designing buildings in a virtual world brings up some interesting
philosophical issues that he and other virtual architects like to debate. There
are those who argue, for example, that architectural students should only be
able to design buildings that could actually be built in the real world and
others who say that there's nothing wrong with taking advantage of the special
features of this virtual world.
For example, in one of his students'
designs there is a staircase with stairs that simply float in space - they're
not anchored to the structure. And the stairs are very far apart.
It
would be impossible to build such a staircase in the physical world and equally
impossible for a real person to use it. But in Second Life, people can fly and
jump more than high, so this staircase works just fine. Residents of Second Life
could even get around a tall building without a staircase.
While he has
no qualms about creating structures that could only exist in a virtual world, he
thinks there is value in using Second Life to create structures, design
furniture or create music and art that could exist in the outside world as well.
"It shows the potential of being able to bring real life objects into this
virtual world, as well as creating objects that don't exist in real life."
Sometimes, he said, "I show them pictures and they say it could only be
done in Second Life, but it turns out to be the Opera House in China. It's not
just limited to the real world [or] to what they know so far."
Dr.
Beaubois isn't just an architect and academic. He's also a real estate tycoon.
He own two Islands that he bought with him own money and his students have
access to two additional islands that the University purchased.
Beaubois
didn't tell me the actual price he paid for his islands but he did pay with real
U.S. currency.
Second Life is operated by Linden Labs, which makes part
of its money selling virtual real estate for real money.
Really. |
