Collaborative Design Explorations with Augmented Reality

Immersive technologies for augmented reality allow interaction with virtual or
digital objects, which appear in the operator's vision, and with which they interact through
electronic equipment that can be controlled both gesturally and vocally by the user; This
capacity for interaction makes it suitable for the practice of formal and functional design of
models at any scale. This work explored the use of augmented reality in collaborative design
exercises, starting with ideation until reaching the physical and digital prototyping of the model.
Exploratory in nature, with contemporary design, the work was developed with the participation
of students from the schools of Architecture and Habitat Sciences, and Art and Design, at the
University of Monterrey, in Mexico. It was carried out in two phases: a first stage of exploration
of collaborative design mediated with augmented reality, in the Experimental Study course, for
the formal creation of a three-dimensional object with use and feasibility of seating, designed in
an interdisciplinary manner, applying the Bottom-up methodology, using the Rhinoceros
software with the Fologram plugins; In the second stage, alternatives were studied for the
physical materialization of the object, through digital printing and the development of
proposals, with the premises being: detailing the modeled three-dimensional explorations;
evaluate and select the proposal to be physically developed; adapt the geometries of the
chosen object to improve its formal characteristics, dimensions, and ergonomic stability; as well
as carrying out 3D printing tests on a scale of the model to contrast the digital model with the
physical one. The entire process concluded with proposing a prototyping system for
constructing the object. The results demonstrate that augmented immersive technologies
motivate the involvement of students in the creative process, due to their innovative nature, in
addition to allowing them to organize their participation and performance in the design phases.
The immersion in mixed scenarios made it possible to align the exercise with the
interdisciplinary approach and explore new frontiers of digital design for its conceptualization,
and modeling.