From the place of research to the research of place: new digital technologies for simulating future architectures in building environments

New digital technologies offer some powerful tools for evaluating the impact that future architectures could have in existing settings. Historically established techniques like coloured hand drawing perspectives and photomontages have been superseded by digitally based static and dynamic representations which blend virtual models with photographs and videos. Besides some new techniques, that offer different levels of interactivity and immersivity, like navigation through virtual models and augmented reality, still have to fully demonstrate their undoubted potentiality in this field. In the most of West towns, some projectual themes, like reconstruction of empty spaces inside historical centres and rehabilitation of abandoned industrial areas inside urban settlements, seem to need new methodologies and tolls for checking design proposals which could have, as frequently have had in the recent past, disastrous impacts on the image of the city. These themes today strongly involve architects in their professional works and students in their learning activities. In this paper we would like to present the results of our research and related didactic activity, about digital representation techniques for simulating future architectures in building environments. Two principal aims address our research. The first one is to propose future developments of low cost devices useful both to professionals and students for checking the effects of their design ideas. The second one is to provide our present students with some critical and operative tools in order to give them the whole control of their projectual proposals towards the surroundings. Anticipating future developments, we can foresee the implementation of 4D interactive and immersive representations in simulating future architectures in their context.