Integrative Mixed Reality Sketching

Abstract

In Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC), early design decisions have great impact. Sketching is a fast and immediate early design tool and means of communication. Communication with other professionals is challenging, because of varying professional languages. We propose a novel integrative sketching application to improve communication. Our application uses mixed reality interaction to allow sketching directly into 3D space, capture the process as temporal data, utilise animation in form-finding. We describe an exemplary workflow that integrates parametric geometry generation and digital manufacturing domain expert feedback into the early design phase of sketching via real-time data exchange. The workflow is evaluated by architectural design experts. Our findings indicate that the immediate domain expert feedback coupled with the novel 4D freehand sketching approach is a highly proficient way of aiding design decisions and streamlining AEC processes, improving communication between designers and mathematicians.