Extended Reality of Architecture: Beyond Photo-Reality of Architectural Representation and Visualization

Abstract

Digital information technologies are extending the realm of reality through various types of virtual, mixed, and augmented reality encompassed by the term "extended reality" (XR). The notion of extended reality, reconsidered and interpreted within the larger framework of contemporary thought, incorporates architecture, including technology, culture, and society. The concept of extended reality, based on the assumption that the technological mediation of visual spatial experience generates a dynamic space of interaction between multiple realities across many layers of experience, provides a deeper comprehension of the role of architectural representation. As the photorealistic digital images currently dominate architectural visualization and presentation, exploring the concept of photorealism could lead to a deeper understanding of visual representation mediated by technology that can define the nature of spatial reality. Architectural representation is not merely an instrument for visualization of concepts or descriptions of tangible objects. It has generative, projective, and cognitive capacity that could augment and extend reality across multiple dimensions. Understanding their potential to change, develop, and expand the reality in which architecture is not only articulated and expressed but also concretized and experienced, the digital information technologies and generative artificial intelligence models can be meaningfully integrated with the architectural design process.