Tiago Pedro | ISCTE - University Institute of Lisbon (ISCTE-IUL) (original) (raw)

Conference Proceedings by Tiago Pedro

The use of new computing technologies in architecture design has evolved the working methods and ... more The use of new computing technologies in architecture design has evolved the working methods and the way designers relate with the space they are designing. To express their ideas, designers use tools such as physical scale models of buildings in urban settings, sketches and rigorous drawings that are often difficult to understand by non-designers. Therefore, it is common that architect designers have some difficulties when discussing with different stakeholders about their projects. Improving the communication between architects and other experts in the full-life cycle of building design, including architecture, engineering, construction and maintenance stakeholders, is therefore mandatory and require the introduction of new tools. The adoption of BIM (Building Information Model) standards, models, processes and support tools in AEC -Architecture, Engineering and Construction, is bringing considerable benefits to the industry, by providing physical and functional information about the different elements of the design, in a structured, standard and interoperable way, during its different stages (conceptual design, detailed design, construction and maintenance), facilitating the collaboration among professionals of architecture and of different engineering specialties. The usage of BIM enables not only efficient design and documentation of all the building design parts, but also automatic identification of design errors or clashes amongst the design proposals of different specialties, that often arise during the design process. The use of BIM allows designers to have a quick access to more detailed and structured information about all components of the building model in 3D . In this paper, we combine the potential brought by BIM standards to AEC processes, with the recent trends and results taken from human-computer interaction (HCI). As a result, our system supports the visualization and interaction with 3D BIM models of buildings, at full scale in an immersive virtual reality (VR) environment, using natural and multimodal HCI, namely, combining gesture with speech. We´ve carried usability and user satisfaction evaluation with a panel of architects, engineers and architect students and our research shows that such an environment allows a deeper understanding of the work throughout the design process and improve the communication between AEC specialties, during design briefs. We have concluded also, that our technology offers great benefits during all the stages of design, from the initial phase of conceptual design until the detailed stages up to the construction work. The practical experimentation of our in-house developed system, was possible by taking advantage of the virtual reality facilities of ISCTE-IUL, namely, its PocketCAVE lab.

"MOURAL, A., ELOY, S., DIAS, M.S., PEDRO, T. (2013) "How space experimentation can inform design... more "MOURAL, A., ELOY, S., DIAS, M.S., PEDRO, T. (2013) "How space experimentation can inform design: immersive virtual reality as a design tool". Knowledge-based Design, Proceedings of the 18th Conference of the Iberoamerican Society of Digital Graphics (SIGraDi 2013), Valparaiso, Chile.

"Immersive virtual reality allows us to experience the space even before it’s constructed. In this way, the use of such an environment plays a decisive role in the design process in architecture. The spaces that architects design may now be evaluated in a real scale mode which enable the understanding of problems and/or opportunities that space bring to the buildings.
The goal of this paper is to define the methodological framework for using an immersive virtual environment, namely CaveH, in an Architectural design process by exploring the use of real-time rendering. We intend that the developed software and infrastructure will be used in a very easy way as a valid design tool to any professional.
Two 3d models were experiment along this research each one of them regarding to a different type of design problem."

Available at http://cumincad.scix.net/cgi-bin/works/Show?_id=sigradi2013_91&sort=DEFAULT&search=eloy&hits=9

Conference Proceedings (indexed) by Tiago Pedro

We present a pilot study aiming to explore the use of biometrics sensing technology within a semi... more We present a pilot study aiming to explore the use of biometrics sensing technology within a semi-immersive VR environment, where users face architectural spaces which induce them sensations close to fear of heights, claustrophobia, frustration and relief. Electrodermal activity was used to detect users' emotional arousal, while navigating in VR. Navigation conditions and participants' expertise with games were controlled. Main results show that physiological measurement of user's perceptions can discriminate well "positive" from "negative" spaces, providing designers with basic information on people's emotional state when using the buildings they design.

Sigradi 2013 Proceedings

Immersive virtual reality allows us to experience the space even before it’s constructed. In this... more Immersive virtual reality allows us to experience the space even before it’s constructed. In this way, the use of such an environment plays a decisive role in the design process in architecture. The spaces that architects design may now be evaluated in a real scale mode which enable the understanding of problems and/or opportunities that space bring to the buildings.
The goal of this paper is to define the methodological framework for using an immersive virtual environment, namely CaveH, in an Architectural design process by exploring the use of real-time rendering. We intend that the developed software and infrastructure will be used in a very easy way as a valid design tool to any professional.
Two 3d models were experiment along this research each one of them regarding to a different type of design problem.

Talks by Tiago Pedro

Papers by Tiago Pedro

"DIAS, M; ELOY, S; CARREIRO, M; PROENÇA, P; MOURAL, A; PEDRO, T; FREITAS, J; VILAR, E; ALPUI... more "DIAS, M; ELOY, S; CARREIRO, M; PROENÇA, P; MOURAL, A; PEDRO, T; FREITAS, J; VILAR, E; ALPUIM, J; AZEVEDO, S (2014): “Designing better spaces for people. Virtual reality and biometric sensing as tools to evaluate space use”. Rethinking Comprehensive Design: Speculative Counterculture, Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA 2014) / Kyoto 14-16 May 2014, pp. 739–748. Available at http://cumincad.scix.net/cgi-bin/works/Show?_id=caadria2014_206&sort=DEFAULT&search=eloy&hits=9"

In this paper we use analysis tools from Space Syntax and objective observation of the human beha... more In this paper we use analysis tools from Space Syntax and objective observation of the human behaviour, to understand the impact of landmarks in the walking patterns of users of spaces. Our case study was a large exterior public open space (University Campus), in which participants could walk freely and simultaneously be tracked by several sensors. We carried Space Syntax analysis for this space, and then collected Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking information and used a mobile eye-tracking device to acquire eye gaze information. The collected data allowed us to map and analyse each subject behaviour in the public space. A more specific analysis was done to four selected landmarks that, according to the Space Syntax analysis, were the ones with higher integration values. Results indicate that landmarks with such higher integration values show also a larger count of fixations and saccades of gaze interaction.

The complexity of today´s architecture solutions brings the need to integrate, in the design proc... more The complexity of today´s architecture solutions brings the need to integrate, in the design process, digital tools for creation, visualization, representation and evaluation of design solutions. This paper proposes the adoption of a new Virtual Reality (VR) tool, referred to as VIARmodes, to support the architectural design process with an improved communication across different specialities, towards the facilitation of the project decision process. This tool allows a complete visualization of the design, specifically useful during the detailed design phase, including the architecture design and of other engineering specialities, progressively and interactively adapting the project visualization to the information needed for each discipline. With a set of 3 different visualization modes simulated in real scale within a Virtual Environment (VE), and adopting natural human-computer interaction by using speech, the system allows a team of architect and engineers, to visualize and interact with the proposed design during a collaborative design brief. We carried a usability evaluation study with 12 architects. The study showed that the tool was perceived to be effective and its use efficient during the design process, especially during the detailed design phase.

This paper focuses on the objective study of emotions, namely, fear induced by architectural spac... more This paper focuses on the objective study of emotions, namely, fear induced by architectural spaces, by sensing and statistically analysing some physiological signals of users experiencing Virtual Environments (VE). For this, a virtual building was designed considering the presence of stairs and ramps as architectural elements that could affect users´ physiological states and perception of fear of falling. Thirty-one older persons participated in this study and were assigned to two experimental conditions (i.e., safe and unsafe conditions). Five main locations (beginning of the stairs; neutral room; first descending r& ascending r& and the middle of ascending ramp) were considered along the participants' path, and heart rate (HR) was collected in the vicinity of those locations. Results shown significant differences in HR activation among neutral, beginning of stairs and middle of ascending ramp. Despite the fact that the effect of condition was not fully verified for HR, partic...

Journals papers (indexed) by Tiago Pedro

Sensors, 2019

Physiological arousal has been increasingly applied to monitor exploration (or navigation) of a v... more Physiological arousal has been increasingly applied to monitor exploration (or navigation) of a virtual environment (VE), especially when the VE is designed to evoke an anxiety-related response. The present work aims to evaluate human physiological reactions to safe and unsafe VEs. We compared the effect of the presence of handrails in the VE in two different samples, young and older adults, through self-reports and physiological data: Electrodermal activation (EDA) and electrocardiogram (ECG) sensors. After navigation, self-report questionnaires were administered. We found that the VEs evoked a clearly differentiated perception of safety and unsafety demonstrated through self-reports, with older adults being more discriminative in their responses and reporting a higher sense of presence. In terms of physiological data, the effect of handrails did not provoke significant differences in arousal. Safety was better operationalized by discriminating neutral/non-neutral spaces, where the reaction of older adults was more pronounced than young adults. Results serve as a basis for orienting future experiments in the line of VE and applied physiology usage in the architectural spaces design process. This specific work also provided a basis for the development of applications that integrate virtual reality and applied biofeedback, tapping into mobility and ageing.

Available at http://cumincad.scix.net/cgi-bin/works/Show?_id=sigradi2013_91&sort=DEFAULT&search=eloy&hits=9

Sigradi 2013 Proceedings

Sensors, 2019