Secret Whispers & Transmogrifications:a case study in online teaching of Augmented Reality technology for collaborative design production

Abstract

This paper focusses on teaching the integration of Augmented (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR), combined referred to as Extended-Reality (XR), and photogrammetry technology into handicraft using an online-taught digital fabrication workshop as an educational case study. Set up in response to restrictions from Covid-19, workshop “Secret Whispers & Transmogrifications” had students and instructors around the world participate in a course that challenged our understanding of educating craft and technology without the necessity of physical presence. The integration of AR into craftsmanship enhances architectural design and fabrication processes as it overlays computation-driven information onto the hands of the end user. These computer-numerically-controlled workflows incorporate and rely on manual actions as an integral part of a process that is typified by inevitable, unpredictable, human error. In doing so, the workshop questions common infatuation with precision in digital fabrication and construction by striving for alternative approaches that embrace the inaccuracies and imprecisions innate to technologically-augmented human craftsmanship. Participants took part in a hands-on clay modelling “secret whispers” experiment that was designed to introduce theoretical concepts and applications of XR technology into the production workflows. This paper concludes by highlighting that the accessibility of today’s technology enables AR-enhanced craftsmanship to be successfully taught remotely and online.