This project discusses the integration of Mixed Reality in the design and implementation of non-standard architecture. It deliberates a method that does not require conventional 2D drawings, and the need for skilled labor, by using the aid of holographic instructions. Augmented Construction allow builders to execute complex tasks and to understand structural relations intuitively by overlaying digital design information onto their field of view on the building site. This gives the implementation system authors different levels of control. As a proof of concept, a group of non-professionals reconstructed the south wall of Corbusier’s Ronchamp chapel, the Notre-Dame du Haut, at scale 1:5 using no architectural 2D drawings but only custom-built Augmented Reality apps for HoloLens and mobile devices. This project focused on the assembly of non-standard prefabricated elements, based on an optimized parametric structure that enables designers to integrate imprecision within the construction phases into the design through a constant feedback-loop between the real and the digital. The setup was designed in a non-linear process that allows the integration of new information during the Augmented Construction phases. The projects evaluates applied Augmented Construction for further improvements and research and concludes by discussing the impact potential of Augmented Construction on architectural design, socio-cultural, and economical levels.

This project was Garvin Goepel’s Master Thesis titled “AUGSTRUCTION, Construction Under the Aid of Augmented Reality,” completed in summer 2018 at die Angewandte, Institute of Architecture (University of Applied Arts) in Vienna under the supervision of Prof. Greg Lynn and with the assistance of Maja Ozvaldic, Bence Pap and Dominik Strzelec. A big thanks also to all volunteers who participated, especially to Danielle Fertin and Dieter Fellner.