1. Literature Review

We started with a review of the books offered by Springer Nature. However, in order to narrow down which books we wanted to focus on, we filtered it based on Architecture books as well as whether it mentions Singapore Buildings or related to important topics taught in Architecture such as Form & Geometry and Construction. 

2. User Testing

The user testing was conducted with 50 participants, who were split into the control group and the experimental group.

The control group studied with physical books, whereas the experimental group was exposed to the same content through the SpringAR application. Both groups then took a quiz on their acquired knowledge as well as a survey inquiring about their study experience, e.g. whether it was enjoyable, and whether the content was easy to understand.

Results showed that participants who used the application had slightly better scores than those who studied with the physical books, and a huge increase in enjoyment.

Brainstorming AR Features 

We split the AR Book into 4 main categories of ideation:

1. On-Site Features

2. Forms/ Visuals

3. Book Features

4. Interactions

This brainstorming diagram helped us to then generate as many ideas as we could for each of these categories that we could explore in the ideation phase.

Development / User Flow

The development flow is divided into 4 main categories:

1. Extraction of Text

2. Animations (Generation of AR Content)

3. Creating Model Targets

4. Transferring to Unity / User Interface

1. Generation of AR Targets

1. Model Targets

2. Image Targets

This helps us detect the real life physical images and or models before overlaying the augmented experience over.

2. Generation of AR Content

We generate various AR content for each of the model, Timescapes and Punggol Waterway Terrace. The three features of the AR contents are Exploded View, Basic Block, and Energy System.  

1. Exploded View - Display how the model is assembled from its various parts

2. Basic Block - Display the complicated model and the basic block model 

3. Energy System - Display how wind flows within the model

 

3. Generation of User Interface (UI) Design

When developing the User Interface, we focused on Aesthetic and Minimalist designs to maximise the space for users to interact with the AR content. With Concise and Visible controls, we bring the users' attention to the various interactive AR elements and allows

for easy first time use.

Our Final Prototype has the following features

 

1. Exploded View - Visualisation to support Construction & Materials

2. Energy Diagrams - Visualisation to display Energy Systems such as Wind Flow

3. Basic Blocks - Visualisation to display Form & Geometry; breaking down the complex models to their basic forms

4. Map Navigation - A 2.5D Map to show points of interest and find AR Targets

1. Timescapes

3D Printing & Architecture

The AR content featured in Timescapes are Exploded View, Basic Block, and AR/Solid Background

Exploded View provides the user with an exploded structure to show the different layers that make up timescapes and provide details about each layer.

Basic Block provides the user with a complex and simple model of Timescapes that can be changed using the slider

The AR/Solid Background provides user with the choice to toggle from AR to solid background. In Solid Background, the user can view the model without scanning anything while in AR, the user can scan the Timescapes model and this will overlay a 3D model on it that can be exploded

2. Punggol Waterway Terraces

Dense & Green Building Typologies

The AR content featured in Punggol Waterway Terrace are Basic Block and Energy System

Basic block provides the user with a complex and simple block model and the model can be changed with the slider

Energy System provides user with a top down view of Punggol Waterway Terrace and shows how the wind flows through the building

Similar to Timescapes, the AR/Solid Background provides user with the choice to toggle from AR to solid background. However, instead of scanning the model, the user can scan the images from the book to overlay the model in AR.

User Testing

To test the effectiveness of our prototype in solving the problem, we conducted a small experiment with 2 test groups totalling 50 people from our target user group. One test group would read from pages of a book and the other group would learn the same content with our application. In both groups we surveyed participants on their overall experience and ran a short questionnaire for more conventional learning results.

The participants' responses showed a large improvement in Engagement and Understanding while using our application with small improvements in Memorability. Although the test groups were not large, the large improvement that our application brings shows the great potential Augmented Reality has in Education.

 

 

Final Showcase Poster