How will virtual reality change the architecture of the future?

Hiratsuka: This was my first time experiencing VR, and the sensation of being connected to another world without regard for gravity or distance was refreshing. From a pitch black place, I was suddenly connected to an incredibly large space. Why did you start working as a "virtual architect"?

 

Bansho: In the real world, I worked as an architectural designer. But what got me involved with VR was when a friend recommended that I start watching VTuber videos in early 2018. I was particularly struck by a video titled "Let's Play with VRChat" by a VTuber called Mirai Akari. People from all over the world were gathered in a virtual space, dancing and chatting. There was a space there, and people were active. I thought this was the same as real space.

 

Hiratsuka: So you entered the world of VR through culture. What kind of activities do you do?

 

Bansho: First I became interested in VRChat, and in April 2018 I created my own avatar, then I created a world called "Newton Memorial" and uploaded it...that's how it went.

Hiratsuka: We were just guided around the Newton Memorial Hall, and it was a moving experience to experience the classic unbuilt architecture, which we had only seen in drawings until now. Is VRChat a place where everyone who participates can create something?

 

Bansho: That's right. A service that allows people to communicate in a VR space is called "social VR," and recently Facebook announced a new service called "Facebook Horizon," so there are many competing players, but VRChat has a high degree of freedom and is popular among creative geeks. You can upload anything and there are not many restrictions on expression. That's why it's attracting the attention of students who are good at programming and other creators of all ages.

 

Hiratsuka: I see, it's popular among geeks.

 

Bansho: So the basic way to play here is to make something, upload it, and then announce it on Twitter when it's complete, so VRChat has become a kind of "craftsmanship base."​

 

Hiratsuka: It sounds like fun. You say there is a high degree of freedom, but have any common data formats or tools been decided upon?

 

Bansho: Yes. So it was difficult at first. The way of thinking about 3D modeling is different between VR and architectural design. At first, I tried to forcefully export the data I created in "Rhinoceros," which I'm familiar with for architectural design, into polygon data for use in VR. Many people on VRChat use Blender, a free, highly functional software. They then edit it in Unity, a free game engine, and upload it. I learned how to do this from scratch.

 

Hiratsuka: It was a unique challenge. Is a world that depicts architecture like the Newton Memorial rare in VRChat? I don't think most of the people who came to play are experts in architecture, so what was their reaction?

 

Bansho: They found it interesting. The people there didn't have the sense of building or experiencing something; they just created their own favorite "world" and invited people into it, so they enjoyed it on an equal footing.

Hiratsuka: What other worlds are possible in VRChat?

 

Bansho: For example, imagine there is a single tree, and when you touch it all the leaves turn into cherry blossoms, and when you brush the petals away with your hand they move in sync with your body, allowing you to enjoy interactions that aren't possible in the real world.

 

Hiratsuka: That's really wonderful.

 

Bansho: There are clubs too. Moreover, they have advanced things like transforming the space and generating music through live coding. There are so many high-level works that would be appreciated as contemporary art if they were exhibited at a venue. Moreover, many of them are made by students as a hobby...

 

Hiratsuka: I'm amazed that it has become a place for such high-level creation.

 

​The Virtual Market, an exhibition and sale of VR content held in a VR space, has also become quite large-scale. It is held twice a year, and like Comiket, it is a place where circles set up booths and sell 3D models and other items. Last time, there were 600 circles, but the next one, which will be held from April 29 to May 10, 2020, will have 1,500 circles. That's a lot of people trying to create and sell 3D models.

Hiratsuka: How many people are coming?

 

Bansho: A total of 700,000 people visited the previous "Virtual Market 3". There was a lot of sponsorship, for example, 7-Eleven stores were set up at each of the 15 venues. The organizers worked hard to create the stores, even arranging the items for sale in 3D, so the level of reproduction was amazing and very popular. Also, at the venue I designed, "Neo Shibuya-Night", the logo of the sponsoring company "Panasonic" was placed under all the large screens.

Hiratsuka: By the way, you designed the "Virtual Market" venue, organized the "VR Architecture Award (VRAA)", a VR space design contest that was first held in the summer of 2019, and are involved in various activities related to VR space. What are your ideas and aims? It seems that you also want to bring about a major transformation in real-world spaces...

Bansho: That's a big question (laughs). For about a year after I left my previous job, I was basically just an unemployed guy playing with VR, but recently it's starting to become a job. I have a background in "real architecture," so I'm taking advantage of that and expanding my activities to design things like "xR," which combines the real world with the virtual world, and real spaces themselves at the same time.

 

Hiratsuka: What is the world where xR and reality come together?

 

Bansho: I think the key to xR is that there will be multiple realities. Overlaying information on top of so-called "reality" is called mixed reality (MR), and if this develops more fundamentally, I think we will see a society in which people can freely move between and reconstruct multiple realities and live happily. So I'm going to explore what I can do to get there.

 

Hiratsuka: I believe in the potential of VR.

 

Bansho: I think that creation in VRChat is a new kind of creation that could be called "space entertainment." We now live in a world where a creator can easily create a space using only free software, just because they want to see or experience something. A while ago, Hatsune Miku became popular, and DTM became widespread, which democratized music production. And in recent years, it has become easy for anyone to create and distribute videos. I think a three-dimensional version of that is happening now.

 

Hiratsuka: I heard that the VR Architecture Award (VRAA) was highly acclaimed for its "unprecedented experiences that are unique to VR." What kind of "VR-only" spaces were proposed, and how do you see the potential for them to change reality?

 

Bansho: There are so many works that are unique to VR that I can't write about them all, but to give an easy-to-understand example of a link to reality, the work by VoxelKei, which won the grand prize, was a work in which when you hold a glass sphere that records various real-life townscapes, the entire space is rewritten with those townscapes. VoxelKei has been creating a Japanese archipelago that you can fly around freely in the sky, and recently he has been pinning 3D data of hot spring towns and other places on the archipelago and archiving them. A technology that was introduced in this work and is attracting attention for linking virtual space and reality is "photogrammetry," which can take a large number of photos, convert them into 3D, and reconstruct real space as data. In a project to digitally archive the famous building "Miyakonojo Civic Hall," which is scheduled for demolition, a friend of mine, a group of architecture and VR enthusiasts called xRArchi, used photogrammetry to convert it into 3D.

 

Hiratsuka: It was a crowdfunded project that became a hot topic. Preserving real architecture virtually as 3D data that allows you to experience the space is likely to be increasingly used in the field of architectural preservation. On the other hand, what will happen to real architecture and cities as VR becomes more widespread?

 

Bansho: I think that real space will shift to being something to be enjoyed. Freed from the boredom and inefficiency of commuting or simply working on stacked office floors, people will be able to use the limited real world however they like, for example, living comfortably in the forest, instead of using it in a cramped way.

Hiratsuka: Not only the cityscape, but many other values are likely to change.

 

Bansho: It has already changed quite a bit. For example, I have the appearance of a young girl but the voice of an old man, which is strange, isn't it? But in the world of VRChat, it's normal. There are also cases where women have the appearance of men. There are also people who are dating and marrying people in virtual avatars, and a world has been created where there is no concept of gender and no questions are asked about it.

Hiratsuka: Finally, how do you think the way architecture is created in the future will change when we become able to move between virtual and real spaces?

 

Bansho: In the world up until now, where there is only one "reality," there is always a "fight" to be fought over. Physically, there is a fight over land and resources, and a fight over what is right and what feels good that comes from the clash of various values. For example, in the case of architecture, I have worked in architectural design in both China and Japan, but I feel that public buildings in Japan have limitations as a place of creation. In Japan, public buildings are built with the taxes of 1 million people in a city of 1 million people, so they are buildings with 1 million clients, so to speak. Government officials tend to seek the greatest common denominator so that no complaints are made by any of the 1 million people, that is, so that there is no fighting over a single reality. On the other hand, in the case of top-down China, the people at the top have a passion to communicate their work to the world. It is not easy to say which society is better, but when it comes to creation, I feel that Japan has become boring.

 

Hiratsuka: It's true that public buildings in Japan can be a bit cramped, with many stakeholders and a lack of money and land.

 

Bansho: But as the multiple realities that are the essence of VR progress, I think it will become possible to create public places that only 20 to 30 people like and enjoy them freely. The future I envision is one in which small groups can have their own spaces and buildings, and are not closed off from each other, but can go wherever they want, and live happily as they travel across a patchwork of worlds.

 

Hiratsuka: Traveling between worlds. VR may also make people's movements lighter.

 

Bansho: One more thing to add is that it costs money to build a real building, so it's difficult to create something with a single function. For example, a living room is made as a box that allows all kinds of activities. But in VR, it doesn't cost anything to create a world, so even a space made just for A to propose to B can exist. Hypothetically.

 

Hiratsuka: I see. So with VR you can "temporarily" create as many worlds as you want. Even if you use it for a short time and then leave it abandoned, it won't become ruins and cause a nuisance to the surrounding area or lead to environmental problems, and I think there's potential in the fact that it's easy to create.

The interview in the VR space was conducted at "THE VR ROOM KYOTO" in Kyoto.

This cafe is also known for its carefully selected menu items, including those by IIAC-certified espresso Italiano tasters.

 

Thank you for your cooperation.