Virtual vs. actual body: applicability of anthropomorphic avatars to enhance exploratory creativity in architectural design education

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between the virtual bodies of anthropomorphic avatars and exploratory creativity in empirical architectural design education. In Study 1, architecture major students (N = 83) conducted two design tasks via each of an actual human body in a real environment with a full-scale mockup model and avatars in a 3D virtual environment with a digital model. Following the tasks, students evaluated self-exploration levels, aiming to discover unexpected, novel, and functional solutions. In Study 2, students (N = 106) designed two architectural 3D digital models, without and with the presence of avatars, with self-evaluations as in Study 1. The statistical analyses revealed that (1) the virtual and actual bodies were not statistically different in supporting the students’ exploratory creativity. However, (2) in digital modeling, using the virtual body of an avatar better facilitated the search for functional aspects of design and consequently promoted exploratory creativity, relevant to perception-action coupling and para-perception.

KEYWORDS:

• Virtual body
• anthropomorphic avatar
• actual body
• exploratory creativity
• affordance exploration
• architectural design education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), funded by the Ministry of Education [grant number 2016R1C1B2011274].