Introduction to Pratt Virtual Exhibitions
You can now transform any open space into an exhibition of Pratt Institute student work that you may explore with just your smartphone. The Pratt Virtual Exhibitions app was created for iPad and iPhone by the Graduate Architecture and Urban Design (GAUD) program within the School of Architecture. This app uses augmented reality (AR) technology to overlay exhibitions in your surrounding environment, allowing you to maneuver around places similar to Higgins Hall on the Brooklyn campus and a historic house on Governors Island as in the event you were there in person.
How the App Works
The app, developed by Jeffrey S. Anderson, visiting assistant professor and GAUD special projects coordinator, in collaboration with Ariane Lourie Harrison, visiting associate professor and coordinator of the MS program, uses AR technology to make student work accessible to viewers during COVID-19 and beyond. It currently hosts five exhibitions and can expand in the approaching months. On opening the app, users can select any of the available exhibitions and move around them freely through the usage of Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) technology.
Benefits of the App
The AR format allows the display of student work to be way more interactive than 2D images hosted on a web site. It changes the connection of the user to the work by forcing users to maneuver through space, to catch up with and further away from the work, and to experience the work collectively in relation to all the opposite pieces within the space. For example, The Street of the twenty first Century is presented in a recreation of the gallery space at “The Hall,” a brand new adaptive reuse space by RXR Realty near the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Work from Master of Science in Urban Design faculty and students that examines transit deserts—using Wallabout Brooklyn as a test case—is displayed on the partitions, and there are glimpses of Brooklyn through the gallery windows.
Exhibitions and Features
Each exhibition on the app offers a novel experience. Densecity presents student investigations into the challenges and advantages of urban density in a facsimile of the Higgins Hall Lobby and Pit spaces. In Re: Siding, users can navigate the home’s light-filled rooms lined with old fireplaces and wood floors. The exhibition joins two related research projects, turning the home’s windows into display screens and presenting models and other material on long tables. One project considers ideas for artist residency buildings responding to the historical architecture at the positioning; the opposite remixes and transforms textures and patterns found on nearby buildings.
Future Developments
The flexibility of the app allows it to be continually reimagined for brand new venues and circumstances, each enhancing in-person visits to those student showcases and bringing their progressive work into any space world wide. A future exhibition within the series, scheduled to be released virtually this summer and physically debuted in the autumn, shall be Re: Grounding, envisioning a climate crisis center on Governors Island. The app’s ability to adapt to recent situations and technologies ensures that it should remain a invaluable tool for showcasing student work and exploring the probabilities of AR technology.
Conclusion
The Pratt Virtual Exhibitions app is a groundbreaking tool that permits users to explore exhibitions of Pratt Institute student work in a completely immersive and interactive environment. With its use of AR technology and its flexibility when it comes to venue and content, the app has the potential to revolutionize the way in which we experience and interact with exhibitions. As the app continues to evolve and expand, it should be exciting to see the brand new and progressive ways through which it’s used to showcase student work and push the boundaries of what is feasible with AR technology.
