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