[en] In recent years, an increasing number of tools and systems targeting the integration of immersive technologies in architectural practice have been developed. Architectural firms have increasingly been adopting them, especially Virtual Reality (VR), but the technology is mainly employed as a means to showcase their finished projects to prospective clients. We posit that the use of the technology should be integrated as part of the design process itself. To verify that claim, we conducted an online survey on the potential of using VR for architectural design. We gathered 36 responses, that were contrasted with potentially influential factors such as the respondent's prior experience with VR devices. We conclude that there is indeed a demand for a more complete integration of VR technology in architectural practice. We also investigated how VR could be employed for Algorithmic Design (also known as Parametric Modelling) and we put our findings in perspective with existing work. By sharing these findings, we hope to accelerate future efforts towards integrating VR solutions in the architectural and urban design process to address the needs identified through this survey.
