How rad(-ical) is VRAD (Virtual Reality-Aided Design)?

The advent of office workstations into architectural offices introduced CAD (Computer-Aided Design) into the workflow largely that disrupted hand-drawings, which had been the traditional method of design and communication for millennia. With Virtual Reality (VR) becoming mainstream, the architectural industry is poised for a new paradigm shift in the process of translating spatial thinking to a form of representation and communication. This paper presents contemporary VR technology as a viable tool to improve efficiency from the conceptual phase of architectural design, where the sense of scale and presence unique to VRAD (Virtual Reality Aided Design) can help designers make important late-stage decisions early. While VR in architecture has been more actively discussed in the context of project management, education, collaboration and communication/presentation, VR technology being used as a drawing tool is somewhat new and with few precedence. Thus, an experiment was conducted with architectural students to compare their sense of spatial acuity between two conventional modes of drawing against VRAD. Students were brought to observe a room, and then to 3 stations to replicate their observations; using as their drawing tools: (1) hand drawings, (2) 3D modeling by an operator, and (3) manipulation of walls in VR. Our study revealed that, at the VR station, the sense of proportion was most accurate and the level of confidence was highest despite distances consistently being underestimated. This proves great potential that VRAD can help designers accurately assess spatial quality, allowing architectural design decisions to be confirmed earlier in the design phase with much greater confidence, reducing required changes during the construction phase.