Description: The church of Nuestra Señora de la Merced in the Miami neighborhood of Allapattah is a structure that has been renovated and decorated to resemble a historic Spanish Colonial church. This project aims to provide Magic Leap headset users with the opportunity to visit this building in two different spaces and modes: a virtual, more immersive experience outside the structure, and an enriched, AR experience inside the church itself. 3D models of the church’s interior and exterior will be uploaded to Unity to form the basis for the architectural experience application. In the first user scenario, a viewer can experience a full immersive tour of the building wearing the goggles, walking around the building model on the exterior, viewing it from the top, and then visiting the structure’s interior. The virtual visit will allow the viewer to stop at points of interest and learn about these architectural elements through content generated by students in ARH 270 (Spanish Art). The second scenario entails using the headset in the church of Nuestra Señora itself, where a viewer’s experience of a Spanish Colonial interior will be augmented with data from other historic structures, allowing users to compare the artworks and architectural details in the church with structures and art collections worldwide, creating a personally-curated, virtual collection of artworks.
Team: Dr. Karen Mathews: PI, Art historian Chris Mader: Software Engineering, Photogrammetry Amin Sarafraz: Software Engineering, Photogrammetry
