ArchiVR: Space Browsing like Web Browsing

The ArchiVR project aims to make visiting spaces in virtual reality as simple as visiting websites in a web browser. The project consists of a web platform (https://archi-vr.ti.bfh.ch) where users and 3D scenes are managed, a plugin for the game engine Unity that allows 3D scenes to be uploaded to the ArchiVR platform, and a viewer application for VR headsets. 

The project received initial funding from the Humane Digital Transformation (HDT) funding program and was implemented by the TI Institute Human Centered Engineering (HuCE) and the Institute for Digital Construction and Timber Industry at the Department of Architecture, Wood and Civil Engineering (AHB).

Application in BFH teaching

The goal of the platform is to be used in the Digital Model Building module for architecture students at the Bern University (AHB), enabling them to test their designs at a 1:1 scale. It is possible to keep designs private or share them within a group so that all participants can enter and discuss the spaces. The goal of accessing spaces simultaneously is being pursued but could not yet be implemented within the available funding.

Public and open application

If the ArchiVR platform proves successful in teaching with dozens of users and different groups, consideration can be given to making it fully public. One could imagine a functionality similar to YouTube, where unregistered users can only access public scenes. If users register on the ArchiVR platform, they can upload scenes themselves and declare them as private, public, or belonging to a group. In the latter case, only group members can access a scene. Before this can happen, many legal questions remain to be clarified, which would likely exceed the protective frame of the BFH.

The ArchiVR-Platform

Open and Free Platform

Anyone who has read this far may well have come to the idea that this could roughly correspond to the “Metaverse” that a certain Mark Zuckerberg presented in 2019 and took as an occasion to rename his company Facebook to Meta. The vision that one can access virtual spaces as freely as one can read a website is certainly very visionary, but unfortunately still far from implementation:

• Lack of suitable 3D formats and protocols: The birth of the Internet consisted of the standardization of the transmission protocol HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) and the web page description language HTML (Hypertext Markup Language). For 3D scenes, such W3C standards are still completely missing, and suitable 3D formats such as GLTF are only willingly supported by a few tools.
• Too complex or proprietary 3D tools: Creating a VR application is unfortunately still significantly more complex than creating a website. This is mainly due to the mostly commercial 3D tools, whose manufacturers have no interest in open and free standards, as they cannot bind their customers to them this way. While there are free and very powerful programs like Blender and Godot, mastering them still requires months to years rather than hours to days.

The ArchiVR platform is also not yet completely free and open, as we use an app developed by Unity Game Engine as our VR viewer and because the format for the 3D scenes also depends on this engine. Unity is free for students and companies with a turnover of less than USD 200,000, but this clause hangs like a sword of Damocles over every project.
The Computer Perception and Virtual Reality Lab (cpvrLab for short) is therefore working with its students on a completely free version of ArchiVR so that the vision of virtual free spaces can be realised.