PhD Position VR Renovate

VR-Renovate is a multidisciplinary project that involves 3D rendering, Virtual Reality (VR), and visualization technology in order to ease societal transition into sustainable home design. 

As the Netherlands transitions into more sustainable housing in line with the EU energy efficiency goals, sustainable home renovation plays a key role. Often, existing tenants must choose or approve home renovations intended to improve the energy efficiency of their homes, e.g., solar panels or heat-exchange system installation. Guiding tenants through sustainable renovation is a means to support transformational societal change while remaining flexible enough to adapt to individual needs. In order to help tenants make smart choices during these renovations, effective communication is crucial. Such communication needs to go beyond written reports, as knowledge can influence people’s perception and acceptance of energy measures.

The VR-Renovate project is aimed at addressing the communication gap. The goal of this project is to research and test effective real-time graphics and visualization technology based on virtual reality displays, intended to provide an accurate depiction and understanding of the results of sustainable home renovations.

Within the scope of the project, we aim at developing realistic material and lighting models that allow for rendering at the high framerate and resolution needed for VR headsets. Realistic rendering results are necessary in order to provide tenants with the most accurate representation of a completed renovation. We will also investigate how to best present different design alternatives in order for the tenants to be able to effectively compare and contrast different choices for their homes. Effective visualization must balance the realistic depiction of the tenant's residence and also visually salient depictions of renovation changes in order to reduce the chance of unforeseen results for tenants. Furthermore, the use of VR eye-tracking technology can potentially help us better convey information and obtain feedback in order to refine the system. Knowing where users visually fixate can allow us to analyze and understand common concerns, detect when information is not being effectively conveyed, or guide users towards important elements.