The integration of augmented reality technology in
architectural space has capacity to open new portals of communication and encounters
into the built environment to change people’s behaviour in space. This can
be done by reclaiming parts of an urban environment to provide a new
use of space which is non‐regulated, open source and allows for freedom of
expression.
The issue with the current urban setup is the lack of
flexibility which citizens have in creatively expressing and humanising their urban
landscape. The lack of participation of citizens with their visual built
environment creates a detachment between occupants and their setting and therefore
minimises the opportunity for social interaction and self‐expression.
Furthermore our built infrastructure needs radical modernisation to keep up to
date with society and culture. This doesn’t automatically mean a physical
reconfiguration and re‐development of the built environment, but actually an
initiation of new uses induced into everyday environments to show how current
digital culture can re‐energise and claim territory in completely new ways.
The main focus of concern for this new paradigm of visual augmentation lies in the potential possibilities for
incorporating new social experiences into the built environment which can transcend
the physical limitations of built infrastructure and the hierarchies who
govern our visual and social experiences. The use of augmented reality
technology in the architectural practice has potential to go beyond
visualisation of information and into the creation of new meaningful spaces of
interaction and discourse. These new locations can exist parallel to the physical
environment by reclaiming existing architecture to augment through new
uses and programs.
