The University of Virginia had commissioned a great series of VR “movies” of the interior of the Rotunda, their centerpiece building, but they wanted to coherently present them as a single experience on their web site. We designed this site to accomplish exactly that. We think the basic problem with VR is that it drops you into a spot in the real world without the information you would usually get when you physically move to that spot.

Our solution is to present the movies in the context of an “exploded” floor plan with the current room highlighted as you move from one movie to another. The floor plan keeps you oriented, and gives you additional information about how each room physically relates to every other. It also functions as the navigation device you use to move from room to room.

We used this same strategy to present a series of VR movies of the dormitories at U.Va. For more information about that web site visit The U.Va. Dormitory VR Tour site.