"After Completing more than 50 hours inside virtual reality, two full section of students have become VR Sketch certified as part of the course DDFT 473 – “Virtual Environments” at the School of Architecture, Art, and Design.

In the course, the students learned how to design architectural spaces while they are inside virtual reality. The theme of the project revolved around virtual phenomenology where students had to select 3 senses and create 3 spaces that would relate to human experience and interaction with virtually built space.

Professor of the course, Dr. Georges Kachaamy, who is also the director of the Center for Research, Innovation, and Design (CRID), a certified VR Sketch Trainer himself, said that designing inside virtual reality is a powerful exercise that makes students more aware of the scale, shape, color, texture, and time, and how all these elements impact the human experience in virtually built environments.  In addition, students have become VR Sketch certified and part of the next generation of designers that will design future virtual spaces. While the same course was offered in summer I of 2021 and the Fall of 2021, it has reached its full capacity of 2 sections where students expressed their enthusiasm in using a new and immersive tool that allowed their creativity to run wild. It also provided them the ability to express their design process and outcome in innovative ways that was not available for them in conventional design tools."

For students design process and outcome check the following video: