From jokaydia: Exploring Virtual Worlds and Games in Education

Architectural Design and Modelling

Second Life can be used to create fly-throughs of houses for sale, prototype architectural designs, checking out hotels and other accommodation before you book. It can also be used to sandbox and develop architectural concepts and ideas.

Explore the projects below or Return to the Educational Uses of Second Life Homepage.

Architecture Island

Founded in 2006 by Jon Brouchoud aka Keystone Bouchard in Second Life, Architecture Island (SLurl) is designed to support the architectural community in Second Life. The project has several aims including using Second Life as a professional tool in architectural practices and researching and developing strategies and best practices for architectural design in virtual worlds.

Architecture Islands hosts a range of builds and creative spaces including:

• Studio Wikitecture - which is developing 3D wiki tools and strategies
• Crescendo Design's Headquarters
• RL Architects in Second Life Group Headquarters
• the Reflexive Architecture Exhibit which explores a new language for virtual worlds architecture which draws on the inherent opportunities and characterists of the virtual space
• the Farnsworth House in Second Life - a reproduction of the famous real life building which includes historical information and a timeline of the project.

The islands also support the RL Architects in Second Life group which supports a community of practice for architects, as well as a range of inworld events and professional development opportunties. Additionally, in September 2009 the project expanded to explore the use of OpenSim and currently has a home on ReactionGrid.

For more information visit The Arch Blog, join the Architectue in Second Life Ning, watch the Architecture in Second Life Machinima on Youtube or view Architecture on the Double on Youtube - a machinima which records a collaborative building project by the RL Architecture Group.

Virtual Architectural Design Class

Montana State University's Creative Research Lab (CR Lab), directed by architect Terry Beaubois (aka Tab Scott in Second Life), in collaboration with the School of Architecture, utilized Second Life to teach architecture classes and investigate novel methods for the design of a sustainable community for the West Oakland revitalization project. The student team worked both remotely and locally and met and worked both in person and in Second Life to create designs for a new sustainable suburb in West Oakland.

The Creative Research Lab owns two private islands where they conduct our research into both architectural design and education in virtual worlds. Lecturers can visit with students and monitor their projects, and also collaborate with architects from around the world. CR Lab's space in Second Life doesn't replace traditional architectural design tools, but rather provides an immersive environment where participants can develop collaboration skills with both colleagues and clients, and a simple to use modelling environment.

Watch the First Life Second Life: Virtual Architectual Design video on Youtube, read an article about the project on CBS News, read City Turns New Leaf in Second Life, read Architecture Principle Sustains SL Interest in the Metaverse Messenger or watch an interview with Terry Beaubois about his work in Second Life on PodTech.

Production of Architecture - Unreal Central Perspective

Production of Architecture - Unreal Central Perspective was a course run by Tor Lindstrand and Palle Torsson at the Royal Institute of Technology Stockholm in 2006. They established The Office (SLurl) as home for the project and a space for the Lol Architects (the students working in the course) to create, trial and collaborate.

The facilitators described the course as follows: "This course examines the history, theory and practice of representation and the production of architecture. We will see that projective systems have affected our understanding of space through the evolution of media such as painting, photography, film and computer generated imagery. With the aid of 3D tools bundled into an pervasive on-line platform called Second Life we will formulate limitations and possibilities for the production of architecture."

For more information visit the Production of Architecture website, read the Production of Architecture Blog or view images from the project on Flickr.