Virtual World Classroom

You are invited to be a guest critic at the final review of the Summer 1995 Virtual World Classroom, a new, experimental version of the computer-aided design course held at Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Preservation and Planning.

As the name implies, the Virtual World Classroom project is meant to raise issues surrounding the design of virtual space, while exploring the pedagogical possibilities of the World Wide Web. The final review will occur electronically, during the month of August and early September 1995, via a World Wide Web site designed especially to showcase a large quantity of three-dimensional documentation and design work. (http://www.arch.columbia.edu)

The Virtual World Classroom site contains over 1000 computer-generated color renderings, QuickTime animations, and navigable Virtual Worlds, created by Columbia students during an intensive, six-week course in computer-aided design of 3D worlds. The course led students from introductory form-Z modelling on Macintosh computers, to Softimage and Alias animation on advanced Silicon Graphics workstations. The artwork is indexed and hyperlinked so that you can quickly see (1) the progress of an individual over the six week period in a personal "art gallery" or (2) the work of the whole group, side by side, for each assignment, (3) the assignments and course outline, and (4) the response of the critics. Virtual World assignments are displayed as downloadable QuickTime movies or as image-mapped perspectives which allow you to explore the 3D space by clicking on different areas of the image.

You are invited to respond, by clicking on the email buttons, which appear on all gallery pages, when you see something of interest. The students, Teaching Assistants, and instructors will appreciate your feedback, and the email messages received will be posted as a growing online document. Even if you decide not to leave any messages, your time spent browsing the artwork will be appreciated, since each "hit" will be tracked. This means that students will know which logos, thumbnails, renderings and Virtual Worlds were the most compelling. These statistics will be published as a "top-40" list as the review continues during the month of August 1995. In early September, the Summer 1995 Virtual World Classroom final review will end, the site and the comment files will be "frozen" and will become a permanent online document.

We recommend a large color screen, a fast Internet connection and Netscape. Columbia faculty can access the Web at any machine in any lab in the school; just ask a student or teaching assistant to show you how to open up Netscape. Everything you need to know is explained at the Virtual World Classroom. The best place to start is at the main Digital Design Lab page at this World Wide Web address: http://www.arch.columbia.edu

Eden Greig Muir (muir@columbia.edu)
Rory O'Neill (ro32@columbia.edu)

Welcome to the invitation page of the Virtual World Classroom, Summer 1995. Use the shortcut bar below, to review class work for the six assignments (Froebel, Domino, Layers, Curves, Render, and Final). Click on Email to make a comment, DDL to return to the Digital Design Lab homepage, Index to return to the class directory (with individual logos), Fast for a quick text list of student names, or Topics for the course outline and information.

Quick Thumbnail Guide to All the Best Work...

What the critics are saying...