Shift

Studio Patrik Schumacher

Tutors Jose Pareja Gomez, Aswin Shah

Team Nicholas Yohan George, Guillermo Rage Musi, Yumei Zhu

Shift redefines education by leveraging the metaverse to enhance design learning in ways the physical world alone cannot achieve. The digital campus works by enriching both digital and material spheres offering tools for exploration, collaboration and interaction. It enables students and educators to engage with unbuilt projects, test ideas at different scales, and experience transformative spaces from within. The project focuses on architecture, fashion, product and digital design, with London integrated as the representative city for architecture, Paris for fashion design, and San Francisco for product and digital design. At the core of the navigation system are vector fields, developed through advanced algorithms, simulations and graphic studies. These fields act as semiological guidance, employing colour, density and varied line types to help differentiate spaces and disciplines, guiding users through the complex system of the different modes of education on offer. Ambiguity, inspired by geometrical cylinder figures, is one of the design principles which aided us to express and communicate the duality of two distinct sides, such as the digital and physical realms, within one unified entity. This concept underpins seamless transitions between the various environments, blurring boundaries and reinforcing the integration of the system as a whole. A pivotal feature of Shift is the bridge between the physical and the digital.  Realized through a portal enabling a phenomenological Gestalt switch, the physical pavilion sited in Covent Garden, is mirrored by its digital twin, anchoring the connection between them. Real-time holographic projections and advanced volumetric video capture transmit physical users into the digital space, fostering continuous interaction. User interfaces, gameplay, and menu systems enable navigation and engagement. Sound functions as dramaturgical and semiological tool, while interactive AI-based avatars adapt into teaching roles, offering bespoke learning experience. Shift demonstrates the potential of metaverse to redefine education, transcending the limitations of the physical.