Garden of Knowledge

In the augmented reality app “Garden of Knowledge”, the campus of Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences (h_da) is transformed into a virtual garden of knowledge. Using their smartphones, users can explore the colourfully rendered vegetation, collect berries (and thus points) and compete with other users in the process. The app was developed by students on the Expanded Realities (now: Augmented and Virtual Reality Design) and Expanded Media study programmes. In an extensive practical project, they spent over a year designing, programming and digitally maintaining the Garden of Knowledge.

Active participation rather than passive observation

For the ‘Garden of Knowledge’, Prof. Georg Struck and Prof. Philip Hausmeier, together with their students, focused, amongst other things, on the conceptual design of the AR experience, which required ‘new forms of storytelling’, because “unlike film, for example, users are directly involved and therefore play an active role.” When developing applications for augmented reality, the focus is therefore always on how users interact within the virtual world and how they experience it. This is the remit of user experience design, which contributes to the appeal and, consequently, the success of an application.

The ‘Garden of Knowledge’ app can be downloaded from the Google Play and Apple stores. A trailer is available on YouTube. 

An article by Simon Colin and Valerie Neumaier