The Immersive Environments Lab (IEL) in the College of Arts and Architecture's Stuckeman School at Penn State provides a space for students, faculty, designers and artists alike to use mixed reality technologies to enhance architectural education and research.
Located in 208 Stuckeman Family Building and directed by Yasmine Abbas, assistant teaching professor of architecture, the IEL was recently retrofitted with Hyve-3D technology, a collaborative and immersive design and visualization system specially created for designers. The system allows for the creation of three-dimensional sketches in real-time over uploaded digital models or digital scans of the built environment and landscape features, thus distinguishing itself from other virtual reality (VR) systems.
The IEL technology also allows for research and teaching collaboration to extend beyond the walls of any learning or working space as it is capable of connecting with devices. The Design for Social Innovation and Sustainability Lab at Ohio State, the University of Michigan's Taubman Visualization Lab and the Polytechnic Institute in Paris, a French school for engineering that specializes in major technological and digital challenges, have all implemented the same technology.
The device itself is lightweight and portable, making it convenient for students and researchers to present their work at workshops and other academic events. It has also been featured in technology conference proceedings hosted by international design organizations such as the Ibero-American Society of Digital Graphics (SIGraDi) and Education and Research in Computer Aided Architectural Design in Europe (eCAADe).
Andrew Petras, a recent architecture graduate, used the new system during a design review for a project in which he had to design a built environment made of recovered oil steel pipe that a community impacted by the oil extraction industry could use for farming and landscape recovery. He said the IEL and its technology allowed him to gain immediate feedback on the computer model of his project in a matter of seconds.
"Using this technology made it possible for me to see what a prototype would look like if I was physically in the same space," he said.
Another recent architecture graduate, Jason Neuman, echoed Petras' thoughts: "It is a great way to interact with your designs spatially. It allows you to feel immersed in what you are creating."
The IEL was originally founded by Penn State emeritus architecture professors Katsuhiko Muramoto and Loukas Kalisperis when VR technologies were not yet available for home or professional use. The goal of the lab has always been to integrate emerging technologies to explore approaches that allow for better visualization within the built environment and spatial sciences. It also serves as a space for presentations and testing, supporting both classes and design research in the College of Arts and Architecture.
Bimal Balakrishnan, an architecture alumnus who studied under Kalisperis and Muramoto in the IEL, now leads the Simulation and Interactive Visualization Applications Lab at Mississippi State where he is also the associate dean of research.
According to Abbas, professional practices are also using these new technologies not only for client presentations, but also as a participatory design tool. Zaha Hadid VR Group, a British-based architecture firm, has been using VR technologies since 2014.
In February 2025, the IEL held a pop-up exhibition to showcase the experiences of architecture students who had recently completed the architecture study abroad program in Rome. The event allowed participants to be immersed in the stories, images, sounds and insights from students.
The lab also hosted a community art event led by Ann Holt, an art education professor, and artist-in-residence Mohamed Sleiman Labat in the spring of 2025.
Other Penn State researchers who are making use of the IEL include:
- José Duarte, director of the Stuckeman Center for Design Computing, who is exploring the influence of smell on eating behavior using VR.
- Orsolya Gáspár, an architecture professor who recently received ACSA funding to explore the theory, history and best practices of fired brick masonry construction with students.
- Andrew Hieronymi, an art and digital arts and media design professor who collaborated with the Soil Microbiome Lab in the College of Agricultural Sciences on research.
- Adam Ackermann and Gustavo Ancalle, both architecture graduate students who are working on research projects with Gáspár.
Upcoming plans for the IEL include organizing more events to bridge design with other fields (art, science, the humanities, etc.), to be as accessible and expansive as possible. Abbas said she would like to see the IEL become an integral part of the creative community at Penn State.
Abbas said she wants to continue the legacy the IEL has had on students and researchers while making the technology as user-friendly and accessible to as many students as possible.
"Students are digital natives and are most likely familiar with video gaming systems, so it makes sense to invest in exploring design with these new technologies," she said. "Our environment is hybrid itself as we are living in both physical and digital worlds, so that should be applied in the spaces and places we create. Ultimately, I'd like to see the IEL as a space of inspiration for the art and design fields, both at Penn State and beyond."
