Today, especially in the post-pandemic period which has become permanent, communication and meetings held in the virtual environment continue to develop at full speed. The development of open-source development and blockchain technologies also has an impact on people's presence on the internet. The existence of a virtual world means new opportunities to build this new world. These opportunities affect architects and designers to a great extent.
What is Metaverse?
Metaverse especially after Facebook's name changed to Meta has become the focus of everyone, and is not a newly created environment. Digital games such as Minecraft or Second Life, where virtual people interact and share a common space, can also be called small Metaverses.
The term meta was first used in 1992 in Neal Stephenson's novel Snow Crash for the construction of normal life activities in a virtual shared and permanent world. The Meta can be thought of as the embodied internet and the niches needed in the embodied internet environment continue to evolve.
The image is taken from about.facebook.com.
Avatars owned by users in the Metaverse universe form the user's profile there. The spaces constructed and designed in the Metaverse architecture offer creative environments to the users that they cannot experience in the real world. The image created to enter this world Meta is personal and depends on the creativity of the person or the place where they buy it. The aforementioned purchase place is the NFT market, and it is also a medium where many people carry out their financial affairs based on the market values of avatars.
VR glasses and speakers are needed to be there in the virtual Metaverse environment. It allows users to physically feel themselves in the virtual environment in terms of sound and image. A person in the virtual environment Metaverse will be able to settle in the office in the morning, spend time in a blockchain-based virtual game during a short rest break, and then take care of finances in the cryptocurrency market. Although all these are not available in a single Metaverse at the moment and the studies are on bringing them all to a level that can be accessed through a single channel.
Metaverse Usage Areas
To take the example of Queppelin company, it provides services for creating events and connecting in the Metaverse world it has created. According to research data, companies preferred to continue their Metaverse activities at a rate of 92%, even after the effect of the pandemic was reduced. In addition, 59% of companies stated that they plan to increase their investments in Metaverse and related channels.
The image is taken from www.queppelin.com.
The presence of world-famous companies in this world also shows that Metaverse is a channel that should be given importance. CEEK City is a Metaverse developed to increase the three-dimensional shopping experience in its virtual environment. Recently, he has increased our interest in Metaverse with the news he announced on Twitter. Its tweet stated that they had created a concept store for H&M. Although H&M denied this rumor, the interest in Metaverse and virtual environments has increased even more.
The image is taken from Twitter.
Architects and The Metaverse
The people involved in the construction of the virtual world were generally assumed to be software engineers and this task was expected directly from them. With the completion of the structural development of Metaverse, its use will become widespread in the future and it will be necessary to offer healthier and more personalized spaces to users in the near future. These environments need to be designed by more competent people. An expert on the relations between space and people; such as architects and interior designers.
Impact on The Design Process
The VR technology required to be in the Metaverse is currently used in virtual home tours. In there while the user has the opportunity to experience the space individually, it may mean that we will have the opportunity to experience the space simultaneously with other people while existing collectively in virtual house tours, in case Metaverse begins to serve in these areas. Considering that customers can specify their demands in the virtual environment during the experience, it is certain that it will offer great opportunities for architects and designers to understand time and demand. As an example, let's imagine that a customer can see the desired change in the parquet floor instantly, with different options, on the spot. This means great opportunities for the designer and also for customer satisfaction.
In the physical world, the imagination of the architect or designer is limited, as design and building, take time and cost. In the virtual environment, these elements disappear and it means that the limits of imagination can be pushed for designers.
However, it should not be forgotten that these environments will also be specific to the user, as in the concrete world, and will affect them psychologically. For all these reasons, a world where these spaces are built by experts will be healthier for all of the users.
References:
tallboxdesign.com
bizop.media
queppelin.com
medium.com
about.facebook.com
