Adjunct Professor Dr. Francesca Torello and Associate Professor Joshua Bard published an article in the journal Dialectic, issue VI: Craft - The Art of Making Architecture. Their article “Plaster ReCast: Augmented Reality as Medium for Craft-Focused Pedagogy” describes the development of a mixed reality app designed to enhance visitor experience at museum plaster cast collections. The app was piloted this past year at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh during the museum's Copy + Paste exhibition.
The ambition of the app is to weave a compelling narrative between the embodied experience of visitors and the wealth of backstory not currently accessible to the visitor experience, while addressing a number of relevant themes in contemporary design, such as the exploration of architectural space made possible by 3D models and virtual reality; the question of seriality/authenticity applied to architecture in the Museum; and the impact of tools, materials, and craftsmanship on the qualitative makeup of the built environment.