Research by PhD Candidate Katie Graham
Katie Graham is a PhD student at the Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. As one of our most senior members, she began working at CIMS 12 years ago working in Dr. Stephen Fai’s office in the architecture building as an architectural undergraduate co-op student. After many years of research experience at CIMS her current PhD research focuses on how different methods of virtual reality storytelling help to reveal the hidden layers of the architectural history of a building. Katie is the team lead of the Digitally Assisted Storytelling projects that use CIMS’ digital assets such as panoramas, historic photographs, models, photogrammetry, and point cloud data to create digital storytelling of buildings through web, mobile, and virtual reality. Projects include VR Kiosk – five passive virtual reality stories of parliament hill, Building Canada’s Parliament – a web project that releases monthly stories of Parliament Hill and the rehabilitation project, and the Senate Virtual Tour – a web application that uses panoramas, photographs, and photogrammetry to teach of the Senate of Canada’s architectural home. Currently, she has joined as associate faculty of the new Bachelor of Media Production and Design (BMPD) program at Carleton University – a new addition to the School of Journalism, focusing on the use of digital technologies for fact-based visual storytelling.
A recent project intersecting Katie's research with CIMS includes the VR Kiosk – a temporary installation that was available from May 2017 to September 2017 in Ottawa, Canada. It included five virtual reality stations that provided visual experiences of areas in the Centre Block that are not generally available to the public. The VR environments feature 360° photographs, building information models, and point cloud data from laser scanning to immerse viewers in the architecture of Canada’s Parliament. The VR Kiosk was free to the public and located across from Parliament Hill in the shipping container at 90 Wellington Street - a special interactive exhibit for Canada’s 150th anniversary. CIMS is responsible for the design and execution of all VR content.
See more on the event here: https://newsroom.carleton.ca/story/parliament-hill-virtual-reality/
Another example of how Katie’s PhD work has teamed well with CIMS is in the Senate Virtual tour – an interactive tour designed for personal computers and mobile devices which allow visitors to experience the art and architecture of three important rooms in the Centre Block of the Parliament Hill National Historic Site: the Senate foyer, the Senate antechamber, and the Senate chamber. The tour employs 360° photographs and video, building information models, and point cloud data from photogrammetry and laser scanning. The tour begins at the main entrance to Centre Block and takes users directly into Confederation Hall. Users can move throughout the spaces via their mouse or touchscreen and freely look 360-degrees around each room. Textual information is displayed about each room or collection on a title bar and when clicking on artwork or hotspot icons within the app, users can find out more about each of the paintings, sculptures and architectural features.
Visit the tour online here! http://tour-ext.sencanada.ca/tour/index.html
Read more on the project in the following links: https://newsroom.carleton.ca/story/virtual-senate-tour/
CIMS is responsible for all 360° photography, animations, and application design and navigation.