Do virtual worlds create better real worlds?

Abstract

Over the last years, virtual reality (VR) has been said to offer promise for design visualisation and has started to be included in participatory design methodology. This research provides an overview of the use of VR in architectural design and organizational space design, and explores how this application can be integrated with participatory design. The effects of the proposed integration of participatory design, VR, architecture and organization were studied in two pharmaceutical case studies. It was assessed whether the participants actually changed the design and to what extent this affected staff satisfaction and construction costs. The results show that the design was changed, staff satisfaction improved, and costs were reduced.