Yesterday afternoon, in a darkened room in Engineering Unit C, audience members wearing 3-D glasses watched as architecture students presented their final projects by leading tours through virtual designs of their buildings.

"Last night and the night before were very long nights," Sally Gimbert (sophomore-architecture) said about finishing the work on the designs. Gimbert was one of the students who presented projects yesterday. The designs were for the class Architecture 231 (Basic Design and Research III). The class lasts for half a semester, allowing students seven weeks to work on their projects. Though the workload was heavy, Gimbert said she enjoyed the opportunity to see her design progress from the two dimensional concept on paper to the three dimensional design on the computer.

"The idea of being able to get in the building and walk around the building is really cool," she said.

Christopher Conner (sophomore-architecture) agreed. "It helped so much with the design," he said. "If we were doing this with pencil and paper, there's no way that we could get something like this."

The students' presentations were made possible through the combined efforts of both the Center for Academic Computing and the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. The product of this effort is the Immersive Environments Lab, located on the third floor of Engineering Unit C.

"We're trying to make these kinds of tools more accessible to students and instructors," said George Otto, manager of the CAC Visualization Group. This group works to integrate emerging technologies into Penn State research and instructional programs. Earlier technology was available, but barriers such as the cost of the technology and the distance of the labs from the students limited its use, Otto said. With the location of the new lab so much closer to the students, it will be much easier for them to utilize.

"To me, this is what the university is all about, what academia is all about," said Loukas Kalisperis, professor of architecture, who teaches the Architecture 231 course. "It is wonderful to see individuals from different areas of expertise providing different opportunities for students to learn."

Kalisperis gave his students the assignment of designing a single room occupancy to be built on an actual site in State College, and then to use the 3-D software to design a tour of their creations. "What they can do with this environment is test their designs and ideas," Kalisperis said.

Yesterday, the students were finally able to show off their designs, guiding their tours using a joystick to take the audience in and around their buildings. "This was the first time I've ever done something like this," Gimbert said. "It feels like you're flying."

Conner agreed with her. "It's one of the reasons you want to be an architect, to design something and see what it's like to actually walk through it. As students, this is the closest we can get." Kalisperis was happy with his students' results. "I've always been very proud of my students. They've done some very good work," he said.