Enhancing Design Activity and Review Experience Through Hybridizing Desktop and Virtual Environments

Although virtual reality (VR) applications can provide immersive experiences, the design process is mainly executed in a desktop environment (DE). The omniscient point-of-view of the desktop allows the user to explore shapes and objects and their relationships with each other conveniently and efficiently. However, unlike a VR environment (VE), it is difficult for the user to perceive the space through their natural spatial perception from the first-person point-of-view in a DE. Although VEs and DEs have advantages and limitations, research exploring the design activity and review experience using these two mediums is limited. Thus, a method of integrating the characteristics and advantages of existing VEs and DEs is proposed as a hybrid design environment (HE). Empirical comparisons of the three environments (VE, DE, and HE) were performed according to the indicators of system usability, perceived workload, and satisfaction through a series of user experiments (n = 12), showing that the HE was superior on all indicators to the VE. Specifically, participants evaluated the usability of the VE method as the worst and found no significant difference between the usability of the DE and the HE. Perceived workload demand was significantly greater in the VE, and satisfaction levels were also significantly lower than in the other environments. Although the HE allowed both desktop and VR use, participants spent most of their time in the DE and used the VE primarily for design review.