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Feeling the Earthship house: eliciting a perspective of posterity through immersive virtual reality

Gargy M. Sudhakaran (Centre for Architecture and Built Environment Research, College of Arts, Technology and Environment, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK)
Abhinesh Prabhakaran (Centre for Architecture and Built Environment Research, College of Arts, Technology and Environment, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK)
Abdul-Majeed Mahamadu (The Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction, University College London, London, UK) (University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa)
Colin A. Booth (Centre for Architecture and Built Environment Research, College of Arts, Technology and Environment, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK)
Grazyna Wiejak-Roy (Centre for Architecture and Built Environment Research, College of Arts, Technology and Environment, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK)

Smart and Sustainable Built Environment

ISSN: 2046-6099

Article publication date: 8 August 2023

183

Abstract

Purpose

The surging cost of living and shortage of affordable and sustainable homes fuel the global housing crisis. Earthship buildings are marketed as the epitome of affordable and sustainable alternative housing. This paper aimed to elicit the perception of Earthship buildings among youngsters in the United Kingdom using immersive virtual reality technology. Additionally, the impact of virtual reality on perception compared with two-dimensional drawings was investigated in the study.

Design/methodology/approach

A three-phase, experiment-based survey was adopted: Phase 1: literature review, Earthship house model conception and the virtual environment creation; Phase 2: two-dimensional drawing-based pre-visualisation survey; Phase 3: virtual reality–based post-visualisation survey.

Findings

The findings indicated that youngsters had a remarkable, positive change in attitude towards the uptake of the Earthship houses after virtual reality visualisation. In contrast, sustainability experts shared more concerns regarding the concept's viability in the United Kingdom, even after the virtual reality visualisation. However, both youngsters and experts agreed with the pre-eminence of virtual reality over two-dimensional drawings.

Originality/value

The lack of awareness about Earthship buildings for posterity was noted in previous studies, which could be attributed to there being very few Earthship buildings in the United Kingdom. The importance of this awareness among youngsters cannot be over-emphasised since youngsters are affected most by the shortage of affordable and sustainable homes. This gap was addressed by enlightening the youth about Earthship houses and imparting awareness through near-real-life virtual reality visualisation.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Since acceptance of this article, the following author have updated the affiliations: Colin A. Booth is at the School of Engineering, University of the West of England, Coldharbour Lane, Bristol, UK.

Citation

Sudhakaran, G.M., Prabhakaran, A., Mahamadu, A.-M., Booth, C.A. and Wiejak-Roy, G. (2023), "Feeling the Earthship house: eliciting a perspective of posterity through immersive virtual reality", Smart and Sustainable Built Environment, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/SASBE-05-2023-0122

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited

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