The name of Facebook Inc., which includes Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger applications under one roof, was recently changed to Meta announced by Mark Zuckerberg. In this article, we will look for answers to the questions of what is Metaverse, which everyone has heard about and even if they are not interested recently. Why has it been on the front burner so much lately, and what awaits architecture in this new virtual world.
What is Metaverse?
If there is one thing that can be said for certain about the metaverse, which is on the front burner of every sector today, it is where the word meta comes from. This term is the term Neal Stephenson uses to describe the dream of the virtual world future in the 21st-century dystopia that he deals with in his novel Snow Crash.
Retail stores, one of the markets most affected by the restriction of physical spaces, have developed different strategies for promoting their products in this pandemic period. Balenciaga, the leading and innovative brand in the fashion world, preferred to introduce its 2021 fall collection with the video game Afterworld: Age of Tomorrow. In short, physical contact had to be replaced by virtual connections in changing human relations, and internet and software-based companies were on the rise in this process.
The Relationship of the Metaverse World with Architects
Virtual games are considered the best bearer of the metaverse and are a branch of the Metaverse. Virtual games have a structure that increases curiosity and addiction by having a metadatabase and providing a free experience to the player. It is an environment that allows architects to establish relationships or needs architects, to think outside the box. For example, SimCity fits this situation very well. Many city designers considered this game inspiring game. Because the game, which includes a construction process, has a strong relationship with architecture.
In general, the design of a game and the creation of the virtual environment are similar to the design and construction process in the physical world. The spaces that architects designed and built in the real world have turned into virtual spaces, this time in the virtual environment. At the same time, architects have recently begun to integrate algorithm systems such as artificial intelligence and computational design into the design process, rather than using 3D modeling programs, and to ensure that the resulting spatial product reaches the maximum level of correct design. This is another common point in fields that require programming language knowledge such as game design and computational design and Python is defined by experts as a relatively easy programming language to learn.
The Place of the Architect in the Virtual World
Architecture began to be mentioned in the virtual world. With the changing world, people and their professions are changing day by day. Space, which is the task of the architect, the task of creating volume and the sense of being surrounded by it seems like a world that we will need in the metaverse environment in the future. The knowledge and ability to create spaces that architects are accustomed to will evolve into the virtual world or have already begun to evolve.
Considering that these virtual spaces should be created and designed in the metaverse world, architects will be the most suitable person to make this a reality. With CEEK's announcement on its official Twitter account on December 7, 2021, when the world brand H&M also opened a shop, issues such as shop design in the metaverse drew attention.
References;
about.fb.com/news
harchdaily.com
polygon.com
