From TÉKTWV to Tέxvn: Going Back to the Classical Roots of Architecture using Virtual Reality

In Classical Greece the design and construction of buildings were interconnected, forming a single activity. With the development of knowledge and technology, this process has fragmented, giving rise to different activities, performed by various professionals, such as the architect, the engineer and the builder, leading to problems related with information exchange between them. With the research projects Tecton and Technos, we intend to reunite these activities again, seeking to simplify the building production process. In Tecton, we propose an Immersive Virtual Reality Environment to sketch and model objects in an interactive way, using hand gestures and body postures, enabling architects to change between the viewpoint of the creator and that of the user, thereby designing buildings while experiencing them at full-scale at the same time. In the future Technos project, our vision is develop detailed 3D virtual models to serve both as supporting elements for the digital fabrication of building parts and as communications elements for the assembly and construction of buildings.