Real-time Architectural Visualization for the Changing Demands of Korean Housing

Abstract

Background and objectives: Responding to real-time architectural visualization’s heretofore negation of what Gernot Böhme terms a building’s “atmosphere,” this study theorizes a visualization that takes atmosphere into account, looking specifically at natural lighting.

Methods: This study developed several equations that together yield a game engine in Unreal Engine 4 thatdetermines theangle of sunlight in all seasons, at all times of day. This function can be used in real-time architectural visualizations to demonstrate the ways in which natural light emerges in a building’s interior throughout the year.

Findings and Discussion:Thesimulationproved effective. Our findings are novel in that no work has yet been done to realize natural lighting inreal-time architectural visualization. We hope that thiswill provide potential consumers of presale apartmentswith a sense of how they will emotionally react to the natural lighting of their actual home when built. For Böhme, emotional reactions to an interior determine atmosphere; simulating natural light therefore improves simulations of atmosphere.

Improvements/Applications: This paper’s model should be modified according to the context in which it is being applied. Further research shouldtest the quantitative applications of natural light in real-time architectural visualization.

Keywords: real-time architectural visualization, Korea, housing, lighting, Echo generation, atmosphere