PLANTING IMAGINATION
Community Garden Co-Design Using VR
Using virtual reality (VR) envisioning to co-design and build a local community garden in Cecil Community Centre in Toronto's Chinatown West.
By exploring new processes of working, designing and building together, our team developed models of therapeutic VR co-creation through community co-design and co-fabrication sessions that prioritized the communities and neighbourhoods disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.
My focus was primarily the virtual aspect, which included the development of a bespoke VR system to support residents to virtually imagine and collaboratively shape their own Chinatown gardens.
The Planting Imagination project was developed much like any typical design project. However, we were involved throughout the entire process, from pre-design to launch, and even in the ongoing legacy planning.
We took the site dimensions and conducted a 3D scan using LiDAR to capture detailed topographical data. Then, we modeled the garden to scale in Rhino, creating a replica "gameboard." This serves as the foundation for a web-based game, allowing community members to share their design ideas by crafting their own versions of a creative garden.
For this web-based game, we created 3D models of elements typically found in a community garden. Each piece was designed or downloaded then categorized, including flower beds, greenhouses, exercise machines, and more.
From virtual to reality…
