VIRTUAL Barcelona
Abstract
The paper presents the latest stages of design, development, and operation of the Hybrid Environmental Projection Platform (HEPP), a spatial extended reality setting with integrated Information and Communication Technology (ICT) systems. Since 2014, the HEPP project has undergone several modifications to reach its current stage at TRL-9, a fact that renders it a very useful interactive educational tool, promoting knowledge and awareness on cultural heritage. HEPP is a large-scale media installation projecting an immersive visual tour of ten monument sites in Chania. The project helps visitors understand the palimpsest of Chania, which was recreated for each of the 10 sites with documentation from different historical eras, while experiencing the evolution over time through a Visual Layering methodology. The main goal of the recreation was to provide the users with the feeling of visiting the monument in different historical eras, while emphasizing on an overall “sense of place” rather than on historical accuracy in small details. The HEPP project, rooted in the digital realm, not only fosters a deeper understanding of cultural heritage but also navigates the delicate balance between technological constraints and the presentation of historical narratives. By seamlessly integrating advanced spatial systems with curated historical content, HEPP emerges as a pivotal tool, offering a transformative exploration of the tangible and intangible aspects of cultural pasts, ultimately enriching the cultural discourse of a diverse audience.
Marios Christoulakis is an Electronics & Computer Engineer with a MSc degree from the Technical University of Crete. He is currently a PhD candidate at the School of Architecture in the same institution, and a research associate at the Transformable Intelligent Environments Lab. His research interests include e-learning infrastructures, transcultural, interactive educational tools and serious game applications. He has worked in many European and national projects and currently he is working on the eShadow project and the Hybrid Environmental Projection Platform (HEPP).
Nefeli Manoudaki, an Architect-Engineer, is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in the Media Arts and Technology program at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Formerly a researcher at the TUC TIE Lab in Greece, she contributed to impactful national projects. Bridging Nature, human senses, and design through emerging technologies, her research encompasses immersive environment design, artificial intelligence, and exploration of allotropic architectural forms in tangible and digital media (VR-AR-XR-AI/ML).
Iason N. Paterakis, a California-based Architect-Engineer, Media Artist, and Extended Reality researcher, is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Media, Arts & Technology (MAT) at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is a researcher in MAT’s tranLAB and a research affiliate at the TUC TIE Lab. Specializing in speculative augmented environments, he actively participates in transdisciplinary workshops, exhibitions, and international conferences.
Marianthi Liapi is an architect specializing in the creative combination of design thinking, participatory practices and the contemporary maker culture. Starting in 2012, she is the TUC TIE Lab Research Program Director at the Technical University of Crete. Her research projects are grounded in architecture and technology and from there on they are branching out in learning places and maker spaces, extreme environments, cultural settings and projection mapping technologies. She holds a Diploma in Architecture and Engineering from AUTh and a MSc degree in Design and Computation from MIT. Since 2021, she is a Fulbright Greece Outreach Ambassador.
Professor Konstantinos-Alketas Oungrinis is the TUC Vice-Rector of Research and Innovation. He is also the TUC TIE Lab Director. His research specializes in transformable environments, activity-based design methods, user-experience design, digital media and cultural heritage, educational environments and spaces within extreme environmental conditions
7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Tuesday 16th July, 2024