Virtual Reality as A Tool to Enhance Students’ Perceptions of Architectural Historical Spaces

Abstract

The future relied on advanced and smart technologies after covid. Teachingstrategies became more virtually oriented. Despite the important role of visitinghistorical sites in architectural students’ knowledge and space perception. Thestudy aim is to highlight the significance of virtual related technologies in teachingas a smart strategy to enhance students' perceptions in architectural universities andcope with the future of technology, specifically in “History of Architecture” courses.An overview of virtual related technologies will be presented, exploring differenttechniques, elements and types, this will be built on a theoretical study. In addition,the significance of virtual spaces on students’ perceptions will be investigatedthrough a non-equivalent quasi experimental study. A group of students willexperience a historical space through a non-immersive virtual tour, and the othergroup will experience the same space through 2D photographs.Findings of the study presented the effect of virtual related technologies inenhancing the architectural students' perceptions toward historical sites. For a betterunderstanding of spaces in architectural universities.