Second Life Used to Design Wisconsin Retirement Home With Input from Senior Citizens - Excellent RL Application of SL

This is one of the best real life applications of Second Life that I've ever seen: in Madison, Wisconsin, a team of architects used SL to give a focus group of senior citizens a 3D preview of a retirement home design, then incorporated their feedback into the final plans. Watch:

The SL portion of the project was led by Jon Brouchoud, a Wisconsin architect who has used SL as a design tool for years. He imported the basic design into Second Life and added other elements dynamically, based on the reaction of the senior citizens watching  the SL simulation. This feedback also led the architects to change the overall plans.

"We had an idea that the outdoor spaces, garden and screened porch could be part of the entry experience, but they didn't like that idea at all," Jon tells me. "We also assumed the new building would have a more formal entry desk, but they definitely preferred something more subtle, that blended into the environment instead."

It's easy to see how other architects could use Second Life for similar focus group sessions, and in many ways, it's a superior platform than other alternatives. (Better, for example, than a scale model, or static 3D modeling without avatars or dynamic alterations.) So here's Jon's advice on using SL as a focus group prototyping tool:

 

"I would definitely recommend this to other architects," he tells me, "but only if they're efficient enough with the SL primitive modeling tools to sketch up ideas on the fly. I also recommend sticking to broad-stroke conceptual ideas, rather than getting into too much detail. It really helps, in terms of facilitation, to really start with a blank slate and use this technology in the earliest stages of design, when the ideas are much more flexible and nothing is really set in stone."

More tips: "[A]void the temptation to design the space ahead of time, but to seed the process with very simple diagrammatic 'vignettes' that can help catalyze the discussion. Don't spend too much time developing these, but I think it's a good idea to have some broad-stroke ideas ready to share if the discussion stalls, or naturally gravitates in that direction, then refine and improve upon them based on the group's input. This also helps speed up modeling time, so the group isn't waiting while you build every detail. For example, if you know there will likely be doors, windows, floor material changes, etc. have those components ready behind the scenes to bring out when the time comes. Likewise, have several different materials and paint colors ready to try out. You may not end up with exactly what the group is describing in the end, but by testing a few different pre-prepared options, and listening carefully to their reaction, you'll quickly be able to get a sense of their preferences."

Real life construction start is still to be determined, but will probably begin next year or 2013. Read much more about this project here. Ironically, Jon told me about it just after I had read the Heath brothers' much-discussed, but very inaccurate assessment of why Second Life failed to go big. The Heaths think SL didn't go mass market because it doesn't perform any real life tasks. I suspect several senior citizens in Madison will beg to differ there.

Comments

[Nexii Malthus]

Awesome!

Absolutely brilliant how he really actually used SL to its' true colours, speaking as a content creator.

I can see that he really had it well planned and could provide real time changes with the power that the SL build tools bring.

He's definitely right that the architects do need to be ready with the idea to be able to sketch models on the fly and having some prepared resources, even if they are initially rough, to be refined later.

In another way, you can say he really "gets it".

[Molly Montale]

This makes me think of the Starwood Hotel design back in 2008.
http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/aug2006/id20060823_925270.htm

[qarl]

THIS is why SL is cool. (one reason, anyway.)

kudos Jon.

[Ignatius Onomatopoeia]

Outstanding, Hamlet. Thanks for sharing this. These are the sorts of applications that will get our admins and peers interested in the .edu world.

I've already shared this with my class...we're reading Snow Crash now.

This is a long way from The Black Sun, but then most realizations of the future aren't quite what the visionaries imagine.

[Kimberly Rufer-Bach]

Great project, Jon. Keep up the good work! :)