Architect innovators establish an XR-focused education centre in Cambridgeshire
This week innovators in enterprise and education architecture solutions WindsorPatania debuted the Extended Reality Lab (XR Lab), a learning institution which leverages immersive technology to improve student learning and collaboration outcomes.
The site is located at Hangar 2 in Cambridgeshire, ready for the Eastern Colleges Group, UK. Moreover, WindsorPatania designed the facility to suit XR collaboration, learning, research, and education use cases.
XR Lab by WindsorPatania
The XR Lab site contains an Immersion Lab, Collaboration Theatre, Green Romm, and Conference Room. WindsorPatania split the space into these multiple rooms to suit specific XR use cases.
WindsorPatania also built the space to include glass walls and open doors that promote social interaction and collaboration. Additionally, each area is connected via cameras and microphones to encourage an “interactive education experience.”
WindsorPatania constructed each XR Lab facility to ensure learner flexibility and adaptability to suit the immersive technology space’s fast-paced evolution. “The architecture embodies the function of the building, creating a connection with virtual environments while inspiring the next generation of students,” said Giovanni Patania, Architect Co-Director of WindsorPatania.
Enterprise and education end-users commonly suffer challenges relating to maintaining and managing a rapidly evolving hardware and software market to ensure device optimisation.
However, with the WindsorPatania education site, education clients can easily leverage a suite of up-to-date immersive learning solutions. Moreover, the “pioneering learning environment” integrates AI technology alongside its AR, VR, and MR solutions.
For example, WindsorPatania built the Lecture Theatre to include architectural components which improve learning outcomes. The space comes with wall-to-wall screens, rear screens to host external guests digitally, a motion capture system, and 62 VR headsets.
Moreover, the Lecture Theatre space includes a unique “tables set-up, ” which promotes student collaboration and teamwork. According to the firm, the XR Lab facility can function for various student-facing use cases, such as exhibitions and break-out activities.
The Future of Education
Richard Stevenson, Group Director of Operations, Eastern Colleges Group, added:
XR Lab is a catalyst for ground-breaking ideas, a place to bring students and industry together to explore new ways of working, teaching and learning.
From its initial inception, WindsorPatania’s XR Labs project aimed to “innovate and democratise education,” explains Ryan Windsor, Co-Director of WindsorPatania.
The Co-Director also notes how “recent debates surrounding AI” lead to questions about its place in the world. Although, with XR Labs, WindsorPatania plans to set “a clear blueprint” that other groups can take notice of to “achieve positive advances by embracing cutting-edge technology for learning.”
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