PARTICLE - Participatory Lighting Design in Urban Environments Using AR/VR Technologies

Abstract

The PARTICLE tool is a hardware and software system that facilitates collaborative and immersive co-design processes for environmentally-sound outdoor lighting in urban spaces. Using an interactive touch table, VR headsets and AR tablets, participants can adjust lighting scenarios in real time and experience their effects on light pollution or visual comfort. This paper investigates how such immersive, multi-modal visualization changes the way non-expert stakeholders assess lighting scenarios compared to conventional, abstraction-based presentation formats. The system allows several people to work on the same scenarios simultaneously across different locations. As part of the EU Interreg North Sea Programme DARKER SKY, PARTICLE was developed from a predecessor project, PaKoMM, and successfully used for two pilot projects in the Borough of Altona in Hamburg. This paper presents the co-design concept, the system architecture and the findings from the workshop processes involving a broad network of stakeholders.