Architectural visualization of a residential construction project as an interactive, walk-through virtual reality environment in the Ars Electronica Center’s CAVE.

With its CAVE (Cave Automatic Virtual Environment) application depicting the Theodor Körner Park residential development, the Ars Electronica Futurelab is breaking new ground in high-end architectural visualization. Sinus Builders, a Linz developer, commissioned the Futurelab to come up with a 3-D walk-through model of the finished project according to plans by the Linz architectural firm Team M. Visitors equipped with stereoscopic glasses get a realistic impression of the buildings—they can explore interiors as well as the project’s grounds all the way to the adjacent streets. The façades of the neighboring buildings are depicted by means of digital images, thus providing a photorealistic representation of the ensemble’s architectural setting and making it possible to assess the new structures in the context of the buildings surrounding it. This assumes particular importance since, in addition to the construction of attractive housing units, the master plan has from its very inception called for an upgrading of the entire neighborhood.