Citation: Azarby, S.; Rice, A. User
Performance in Virtual Reality
Environments: The Capability of
Immersive Virtual Reality Systems in
Enhancing User Spatial Awareness
and Producing Consistent Design
Results. Sustainability 2022, 14, 14129.
https://doi.org/10.3390/
su142114129
Academic Editor: Choongwan Koo
Received: 13 September 2022
Accepted: 28 October 2022
Published: 29 October 2022
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Article
User Performance in Virtual Reality Environments:
The Capability of Immersive Virtual Reality Systems in
Enhancing User Spatial Awareness and Producing Consistent
Design Results
Sahand Azarby * and Arthur Rice
College of Design, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27607, USA
* Correspondence: sazarby@ncsu.edu
Abstract:
Spatial decision-making in different virtual environments may vary based on the levels of
spatial awareness experienced within Virtual Reality (VR) systems. Features and characteristics of VR
systems may act as facilitators or distractors of spatial awareness, which can result in extreme varia-
tions in user spatial decisions. This research explored the capability of an Immersive Virtual Reality
Interactive Environment (IVRIE) and a desktop-based VR (DT system) in reducing extreme variations
in spatial decisions and inconsistent design results. Users’ spatial decisions, performance, and design
results in both systems were studied regarding the impact of these two systems’ features on users,
including the sense of immersion, types of interaction, and usage of eye-level view in spatial designs.
The design results produced in both systems were compared considering the types of enclosure,
surface texture, scale, and spatial function. Descriptive and inferential statistical comparisons and
testing using quantitative and qualitative data were applied to determine participants’ performance
regarding the production of spatial outliers in each system. The results showed that IVRIE was more
effective than the DT system fostering a consistency of space sizes and reducing outliers.
Keywords:
Virtual Reality; immersive virtual reality systems; spatial design; spatial awareness;
spatial decision-making; architectural design; consistent design outcomes; spatial outlier
1. Introduction
This study explored and compared user spatial awareness and spatial decision-making
in two Virtual Reality (VR) systems, an Immersive Virtual Reality Interactive Environment
(IVRIE) and a desktop-based VR (DT system). The goal was to determine the frequency of
spatially abnormal design outcomes produced in each system. This paper is comprised of
four sections: introduction, methodology, results, and discussion. The introduction includes
the purpose statement, research questions, and research background, and a summary of a
literature review focusing on previous studies on VR systems. The second section describes
the chosen methodology and research design, including experiment design and applied
methods for data collection. The results section presents the analyses and findings of
this study. The discussion section presents the summary of the study’s overall findings,
limitations, and future implications.
1.1. Purpose Statement and Research Questions
The objectives of this study were to determine and compare user spatial decision-
making in IVRIE and DT systems concerning spatially abnormal design outcomes in each
system. The assumption was that the average number of users’ spatial decisions with
out-of-range design results (spatial outliers) would differ between IVRIE and DT systems.
Additionally, the sequence of systems usage might decrease spatial outliers in the second
system. The research questions were as follows:
Sustainability 2022, 14, 14129. https://doi.org/10.3390/su142114129 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability
