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Please cite this article as: Fricker, P. (2019). Virtual Reality for Immersive Data Interaction. Landscape Architecture Frontiers, 7(2), 153-159. https://doi:10.15302/J-LAF-20190216 In a time shaped by technological developments dissolving the boundaries between the real and the virtual world, we are challenged to newly define the potentials of virtual and mixed reality in the field of landscape architecture. Critical analyses of the primary application areas of these technologies show that the current focus mostly lies on the optimization of 3D visualization and navigation in virtual space. Within professional practice, mixed reality tools are increasingly being used to test and communicate design decisions, for marketing purposes, and more often, within the smart building industry as well. Thus far, the incorporation of immersive environments in landscape architecture is lacking research on human-centered data interaction and the perception of space. At Aalto University, Finland, the team of Pia Fricker, Professor of Practice for Computational Methodologies in Landscape Architecture and Urbanism, researches new immersive co-design methodologies to introduce new meaningful trajectories for participatory processes. Mixed reality applications are thus extended beyond common and conventional uses to help create multidisciplinary immersive interactive spaces using data informed processes. The research and teaching results showcased in the article address international discourse on the larger theme of “Digital Humanism — Big Data and Human- Centered Design.”

Driven by technological advances, growing amounts of available data, and an emergent need for participatory processes, landscape architecture is witnessing a moment of disruption whereby formerly separated areas of operation become increasingly connected. While distinctions between various aspects of the design process are diminishing, a need for a novel, more inclusive toolset arises. The ‘tangible table’ paradigm is an attempt at combining intuitive ways of physical modelling with data-driven design strategies and the interactive simulation of naturally occurring phenomena. Despite its existence for more than 20 years, tangible tables have mainly focused on very specific workflows and therefore have not found wider adoption in landscape architectural practice or education. We list the limitations of previous implementations and introduce a novel software solution aimed at popularizing tangible table setups. Our software is embedded in a widespread visual programming environment, which allows for straightforward augmentation of physical models with computational design tech-niques. Using a week-long PhD course as a case study, we demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed software and its potential applications to solving various landscape architectural challenges through increased emphasis on participatory processes.