360-Degrees: hybrid environments as a research tool

In this report my aim is to present the first stages of a research project-in-progress, which aims at developing a 360-degree hybrid environment prototype and applications. In several occasions, such as the Google street-view, the 360 degrees view has been explored as a possibility for representing places. However, in those cases, the spectator is not bodily situated within the 360 degrees space; he is viewing it through one computer screen. In the case of this proposed project, the spectator will be bodily situated within a hybrid representational space. The aim is the creation and study of a prototype, with which one can record, and then experience, a 360 degrees view and sound of a place: A set of 4 wide-angle video cameras will capture the 360 degrees visual field over time, and a set of stereo microphones will capture the sound. Then the videos will be processed and displayed around the spectator, on vertical projection panels. The sound will be similarly processed so as to create a surround effect. Hence, a hybrid space will be created. The spectator will be situated in a virtual environment, but at the same time his physical presence, movement, and scale will matter. For example, the spectator won’t be able to simultaneously view all sides of the visual field; he will have to turn his head to look at different directions, and he will be always missing some part of the view – like what happens in actual (3-Dimensional) everyday spaces. This hybrid environment can function: (a) as a tool for exploring urban environments, interior environment or other architectural spaces (b) as a tool for creating art installations which explore cultural or social issues (c) as a tool for observing and monitoring how people respond to specific different environments. (Healthy people and/or people with specific disease on mobility problem) (d) as a tool for comparing how people respond to hybrid VS physical environments.