2017 - Daylight Symposium
“Using immersive virtual reality in lighting research and practice” by Kynthia Chamilothori
Speakers
Kynthia Chamilothori
Lecture from the 7th VELUX Daylight Symposium “Healthy & climate-friendly architecture– from knowledge to practice” that took place in Berlin on 3-4 May 2017. For more information visit http://thedaylightsite.com
In this Virtual Reality demonstration, participants are invited to explore 360° scenes and discuss the potential and limitations of this tool in lighting research and practice. The virtual reality scenes are generated through a method that uses high dynamic range (HDR) images to create a seamless immersive environment that can be experienced from a static viewpoint in a Virtual Reality headset.
The method is easy to use, as the scenes can be produced using different types of input, including both renderings and photographs. The scenes that can be explored in the demonstration show various architectural interiors to highlight the potential of the method for different applications. The demonstrated method is being developed in the Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Performance-Integrated Design (LIPID) in EPFL.
After the VR demonstration, the participants are invited to discuss with the research team the principles of the employed method and the results of a validation study, and answer to a short questionnaire on their impressions. Kynthia Chamilothori joined the Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Performance-Integrated Design (LIPID) in EPFL as a PhD candidate in February 2015. She graduated with honors from the Technical University of Crete with a Master’s degree (Dipl-Ing) in Architectural Engineering in 2014, receiving the Limmat Stiftung Excellence Award. Her research diploma project “Memorigami”, a prototype temperature-responsive transformable shading system, received an innovation development grant from the 2013 University Student Entrepreneurship Project (UNISTEP).
After her architectural degree, she joined LIPID for the development of a real scale prototype of an arabic-inspired adaptive shading system which responds passively to direct sunlight. Extending her work on building envelopes, Kynthia’s doctoral research focuses on how façade patterns and the variability of daylight shape the way we perceive architectural space. Using both real environments and virtual reality in experimental studies, she aims to broaden our understanding of the complex effects of patterns and daylight on subjective experience.
Siobhan Rockcastle is a researcher exploring topics at the intersection of architectural design, human perception, environmental dynamics, and building performance. She is in the final stages of completing her PhD at at the LIPID Lab of EPFL. Siobhan earned her professional BArch from Cornell University in 2008 and her SMArchS degree in Building Technology from MIT in 2011. Siobhan has held teaching positions at Cornell and Northeastern, where she taught courses on architectural design, daylight performance, and environmental systems. Her professional work experience includes positions at KVA matX, Snøhetta, Epiphyte Lab, and Gensler. She currently consults on daylight design integration and environmental performance for a number of architectural and urban-scale projects in Switzerland and the US. Siobhan’s research proposes new metrics that predict the impacts of daylight and spatial composition on perception and emotion in architecture.
