This paper presents the latest phase of a research project investigating the interplay between the representation of ‘Virtual Living’ and digital technocultures—particularly the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Extended Reality (XR)—within the educational framework of an Architectural Drawing course. This course is part of the third-year curriculum of the Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture at the ‘G. d’Annunzio’ University of Chieti-Pescara. The research builds upon and refines technocultural methodologies long employed in teaching, leveraging the concept of the ‘semantic model’ as a versatile foundation for designing habitable virtual spaces, such as metaverses or virtual museums. This approach has been revisited and expanded to address the rapid evolution of generative AI applications, which demand rigorous monitoring and continuous thematic experimentation. New technologies in representation are reshaping the pedagogical landscape, offering unprecedented opportunities to redefine the scope of architectural drawing education. From descriptive geometry to surveying, from the history of representation to design, the incorporation of AI has fundamentally transformed how visual representations are conceived and executed. This paper discusses a case study that bridges research and pedagogy, showcasing how students’ creativity, when coupled with the capabilities of AI, facilitates the creation of innovative semantic models. These models have direct applications in the design of Virtual Cities and Museums, offering a vision of inhabitable spaces within the metaverse.
Hypotheses of Images and Architectural Spaces in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
The paper explores the relationship between artificial intelligence, architectural representation, and digital techno-cultures through experimental workflows combining text-to-image generation, text-to-3D modeling, parametric design, and AI-assisted visualization. The research investigates how generative AI tools such as Midjourney, ChatGPT, PointE, Dreamfusion, and Grasshopper can support the creation of architectural forms, semantic image transitions, authorial hybridizations, and morphogenetic spatial configurations. The study proposes a conceptual framework organized around different AI media categories, including textual AI, image generation, video generation, post-production systems, and AI-assisted parametric modeling. Through hybrid workflows integrating AI-generated Python scripts, parametric modeling in Rhinoceros/Grasshopper, and generative visual experimentation, the paper reflects on the epistemological, creative, ethical, and technological implications of AI in architecture and representation. The research emphasizes AI as a creative and assistive medium capable of generating new spatial hypotheses and experimental design processes within architecture and digital representation.
Towards a Virtual Museum of Ephemeral Architecture: Methods, Techniques and Semantic Models for a Post-digital Metaverse
This paper presents the design and prototyping of a Virtual Museum dedicated to ephemeral architecture, conceived as an autonomous post-digital metaverse environment. Developed through a research and teaching collaboration at the University G. d’Annunzio of Chieti-Pescara, the study investigates how virtual museums can evolve from simple digital archives and virtual tours into immersive architectural spaces specifically created for networked exploration through avatars. The authors define conceptual models, semantic classifications, and technical workflows for the realization of the VM5 prototype, a five-room interactive museum where users navigate first-person virtual environments dedicated to historical and contemporary examples of ephemeral architecture. The project combines 3D modelling, animation, real-time rendering, Unreal Engine, Twinmotion, panoramic visualization, sound design, and interactive scripting. Through reconstructed environments ranging from Andrea Pozzo and Piranesi to Aldo Rossi, Roger Waters, and Berlin urban installations, the research demonstrates how digital representation can preserve, reinterpret, and reactivate temporary architectures that no longer physically exist. The study proposes the virtual museum as both a cultural archive and an experimental habitat for future forms of digital living.