Bronze Interface, Interaction and User Experience Design · 2025
Arid AR Application
- A' Design Award 2025 Bronze Winner in Interface, Interaction and User Experience Design
- Awarded April 15, 2025
- CLIENT: Y. C. Huang Design
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 29,967
- Verification code D059DE632B · Verify this award
About Arid AR Application
Arid is an augmented reality application for interior remodeling. Arid runs on a mixed reality headset and allows users to view new materials on the walls, ceiling and floor of a real room. The space is first scanned to create a three-dimensional model with spatial anchors. Virtual walls are then attached to these anchors, and paint colors, tiles or transparency can be applied. Preset virtual furniture can be added and moved with hand gestures. Arid reduces the need for physical samples and small screens.
Yu-Chun Huang's Arid AR Application emerges from the rapidly evolving field of spatial computing and augmented reality interface design, positioning itself within the broader cultural movement toward immersive digital experiences that seamlessly integrate virtual information with physical environments to enhance everyday decision-making processes and creative exploration. This work exemplifies the contemporary design imperative to dissolve boundaries between digital tools and material reality, demonstrating how head-mounted display technologies combined with intuitive gestural interfaces enable users to visualize design alternatives within their actual living spaces before committing to permanent physical changes, a capability that fundamentally transforms the relationship between imagination and realization in residential customization contexts. The compositional achievement of this interface design lies in its elegant restraint and spatial clarity, presenting multiple material samples as clearly differentiated floating panels that maintain legibility against the complex textured background of the existing tile wall while providing sufficient visual information for meaningful comparison including material texture simulation, color accuracy, and dimensional representation at scale. The chromatic sophistication evident in the tile palette selection demonstrates understanding of contemporary interior design trends favoring rich saturated greens that evoke natural environments and biophilic design principles, while the interface's pastel accent colors employ established conventions of digital interaction design where soft blues and pinks signal interactivity, selection states, and system feedback without overwhelming the primary content being evaluated. The technical facility demonstrated through the seamless overlay of virtual elements onto physical space suggests sophisticated computer vision, spatial mapping, and rendering capabilities that maintain proper occlusion, lighting consistency, and perspectival accuracy as the user moves through space and adjusts viewing angles, achievements that represent significant computational and design challenges in mixed reality application development. The domestic bathroom setting proves particularly resonant as a context for this technology, as tile selection and bathroom renovation represent significant household investments where visualization tools directly address consumer anxiety about making irreversible decisions based solely on small physical samples viewed under retail lighting conditions rather than in the actual installation environment with its specific lighting, adjacent materials, and spatial proportions. The work invites consideration of how augmented reality technologies democratize access to professional design visualization capabilities previously available only through expensive architectural rendering services, enabling homeowners to exercise greater creative agency and confidence in personalizing their living environments while potentially reducing costly mistakes and renovation regrets. This application seems to celebrate the convergent evolution of consumer technology, suggesting a near future where spatial computing devices become as commonplace and intuitive as smartphones, integrating seamlessly into daily life rather than remaining specialized tools for professional or entertainment contexts. The figure's casual pose and comfortable interaction with the interface emphasizes accessibility and user-friendliness, communicating that advanced technological capabilities need not require technical expertise or complex learning curves when interaction paradigms align with natural human gestures and spatial reasoning. One might observe how this visualization tool fundamentally alters the temporal relationship between design ideation and implementation, compressing what once required weeks of sample ordering, physical mockups, and imaginative projection into immediate experiential understanding, a transformation that suggests broader implications for how technology continues to reshape creative processes, decision-making frameworks, and the lived experience of domestic space in an increasingly digitally augmented world.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- Remodeling a home can be overwhelming, especially when visualizing materials like tiles and paint in an existing space. Traditional 3D CAD often limit the design experience to tiny 2D screens. ARID creates an immersive experience, allowing users to seamlessly blend virtual designs with the real world through AR/VR headsets. In just minutes, users can customize exisiting walls, explore materials, and arrange virtual furniture—all using intuitive hand gestures, fully integrated with the space.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- The ARID application is designed and implemented by Unity and operated by AR/VR headset Quest 3.
- Tags
- Augmented Reality, mixed realtiy, Meta, interior design, arhcitecture design, remodel
- Production Technology
- We developed ARID on the Unity platform, utilizing Meta's Mixed Reality Utility Kit and Quest 3 for its enhanced AR/MX capabilities. The project includes four key components: 1) Room scanning to acquire spatial anchors for walls, ceilings, and floors; 2) Generating virtual walls attached to these anchors; 3) A hand-based user interface enabling material changes (e.g., tiles, paint, or transparency); 4) A furniture interface to add preset furniture. We integrated the existing environment by using the OVR camera’s passthrough mode, allowing transparent materials to reveal the physical space behind virtual objects.
- Design Challenge
- The ARID system utilizes a VR headset to precisely measure room dimensions, crucial for accurate design interventions. When applying tiles, ARID calculates the wall size and tile dimensions to ensure perfect fit without stretching. Traditional methods using small color swatches or tile samples often fall short, as they can't replicate the full effect of materials in a fully decorated room. ARID overcomes these limitations by integrating VR's immersive experience with AR's ability to incorporate details of the physical environment, including natural lighting. This advanced integration allows users to see how materials and designs look under various lighting conditions, providing a significant advantage over traditional CAD systems and leading to more informed decisions and satisfying results.
- Project Duration
- The project started in June 2024 in Hanover, NH and finished in September, 2024.
- Operation Flow
- The ARID system enables users to remodel a bathroom by integrating AR/VR technology. The user wears a headset and holds a left-hand controller, with a floating user interface attached to the controller. Interaction is seamless: users control the UI and the physical environment using intuitive right-hand gestures. Upon entering the bathroom, the user scans the space to create a detailed 3D model. With the left-hand controller, they can select elements like walls, ceilings, or floors, and change their materials—whether it’s switching paint colors, applying tiles, or making them transparent to see through the original wall. Additionally, the user can add virtual furniture and intuitively manipulate its position or rotation with hand gestures like grabbing and pinching, making the remodeling process highly interactive and immersive.
- Research
- In architectural remodeling projects, design methods have evolved from physical models and computer-aided design (CAD) to Virtual Reality (VR) and phone-based Augmented Reality (AR). CAD enables designers to create 2D and 3D building models to visualize and simulate designs before construction. VR allows users to immerse themselves in a virtual 3D space, enhancing the design experience. Current phone-based AR apps, like the IKEA app, let users simulate adding virtual furniture to their actual living spaces. However, these apps are limited by small screens, offering a less comprehensive view of potential results. Moreover, interior remodeling involves not just furniture replacement but also adjustments to materials (tiles) and colors (paint). The challenge is creating a system that enhances the remodeling experience, particularly for material and color adjustments. The proposed ARID system will integrate the advantages of VR and AR for interior design, with a focus on bathroom remodeling. It enables users to visualize final results by adjusting wall materials and more effectively integrates with the physical environment than current 3D CAD systems can.
- Inspiration
- When people remodel their homes, it’s not just about adjusting the layout or changing materials—everyone envisions their dream room with specific color tones and tile preferences. Traditional design tools like 2D CAD and 3D simulations often fall short in providing a realistic representation. ARID enables users to visualize their designs in real-time, overlaying virtual materials onto physical walls, incorporating natural lighting, and reducing the need for physical samples.
- Patents
- Submitting to patent
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Grand Interview about Arid AR Application
With a background in architecture, I’ve seen firsthand how challenging it is for people to make material decisions during the remodeling process. Many clients struggle to visualize the final outcome—whether it’s choosing paint colors, tiles, or other surface finishes. The traditional process often relies heavily on imagination or small material samples that don’t convey the full spatial effect.Initially, I was frustrated by how limited existing tools were, especially traditional VR headsets that only offer a one-way immersive experience, isolating users from their real-world environment. However, with the emergence of devices like the Oculus Quest 3 and Apple Vision Pro, I saw a major shift—these tools now support blending virtual elements into the real world through passthrough AR.That’s when the idea for ARID started to take shape. I thought: what if we could build a system that allows people to apply virtual materials directly onto their existing walls and see the result in real time? Instead of relying solely on imagination, users could evaluate multiple design options in their actual space, leading to more confident and informed decisions.
While we did not explicitly simulate how different materials respond to natural lighting conditions through advanced rendering techniques, we found that spatial openness and visual continuity played a critical role in shaping users’ perception of light. One key feature in ARID is the see-through wall toggle, which allows users to virtually “cut open” walls—such as bathroom partitions—and reveal external openings like windows.When users enable this feature and align it with real-world window positions, natural light from the actual environment blends with the AR overlay. This means users can experience different lighting atmospheres depending on the time of day and sun orientation, even without manually adjusting any lighting parameters in the system. The resulting effect provides a dynamic and context-aware experience, helping users intuitively sense how the space would feel with different levels of natural exposure.In essence, rather than directly simulating light-material interaction, we enabled a design interaction that lets natural light become part of the AR experience—making it a subtle yet powerful tool for visualizing atmosphere and spatial quality.
Interestingly, precise room measurement and tile calculation were not the most challenging aspects of developing the ARID application. These functions were clearly defined from the start, and we had the tools and methods to achieve them accurately. What proved far more difficult—and crucial—was designing an intuitive user interface that allows users to naturally interact with the system, especially when selecting and applying materials to walls.In most traditional digital products, UI design is constrained to small screens, such as smartphones or tablets. Designers must carefully arrange all the information and icons within a 10-inch display. However, in the VR/AR environment, the concept of UI shifts dramatically. The entire surrounding space becomes part of the interface, and this opens up both opportunities and new complexities.In ARID, we wanted users to feel truly immersed in the space, blending physical and virtual environments. To support this, we avoided using traditional floating windows or flat menus. Instead, we attached the material selection UI to the user’s left hand, allowing them to use tap gestures with the right hand to intuitively browse and apply materials. This interaction simulates the feeling of holding a physical material sample in your hand and directly applying it to a surface—just like how people evaluate tiles or paint in real life.
To inform the design of our gesture control system, we conducted three experiments where participants were asked to design the same physical bathroom using different methods:(1) holding physical tiles and paint swatches on-site,(2) using a traditional 3D CAD tool to assign materials remotely, and(3) using the ARID system to apply virtual materials in real space via AR.We found that physically holding materials allowed users to compare two or more options simultaneously by placing them side-by-side against the wall—an intuitive behavior that's difficult to replicate with conventional interfaces. This insight led us to design ARID’s interface around hand gestures, where the left hand acts as a material palette and the right hand applies materials with a tap gesture, simulating real-world actions.Hand tracking offered a more natural and immersive experience than controllers, especially on devices like Meta Quest and Apple Vision Pro. Through iterative testing, we refined gesture recognition and feedback to support a more intuitive and spatial design process.
ARID advances the field of interior design technology by bridging the gap between imagination and reality. Traditional design tools—especially CAD—often require users to interpret simulations on a 2D screen. In contrast, ARID enables users to visualize material choices directly on physical surfaces in their real environment, significantly reducing guesswork and miscommunication. By combining AR overlays with embodied interaction, ARID allows users to “test out” different materials using intuitive hand gestures—simulating the experience of holding real samples and placing them against a wall. Uniquely, ARID provides a way to see the final visual outcome at a very early stage of the remodeling process, which is not possible with most existing tools. This mirrors natural decision-making behavior and makes the design process more inclusive, interactive, and immediate. ARID also challenges the conventional boundaries of design software, which typically separate the digital model from the physical space. Our system redefines the relationship between user, space, and material—turning the design process into a spatial, lived experience. This not only benefits homeowners and clients, but also empowers professionals to communicate ideas more effectively and collaboratively. Through this hybrid of physical and virtual interaction, ARID contributes to a more human-centered, intuitive, and context-aware future for interior design technology.
Achieving precise integration between virtual elements and physical spaces was one of the key challenges in developing ARID. We utilized tools provided by the Meta Quest platform to understand room geometry and create spatial anchors that correspond to real-world surfaces such as walls, ceilings, and floors.Based on these anchors, we generate meshes that align with the physical environment. When users select a surface, the corresponding virtual material is applied directly to that mesh—creating a stable and realistic preview of the design outcome.Rather than manually placing every element, users can simply move through the space while the system detects and anchors surfaces in the background. We focused on making this process seamless, with minimal setup and maximum spatial accuracy.While the technical foundation leverages Meta’s spatial tools, the core innovation lies in how ARID translates this into an interactive and intuitive user experience—allowing materials to be tested and visualized directly in the user’s own environment, even during the early stages of remodeling.
ARID is an ongoing project, and the bathroom remodeling tool represents only the first blueprint for a broader, scalable system. Our long-term vision is to expand its capabilities to support a variety of interior environments, including kitchens, living rooms, bedrooms, and beyond. Each space presents unique design challenges, and we plan to develop modular interaction tools tailored to fit different scenarios.Looking ahead, one of our key goals is to integrate ARID with home improvement retail platforms, such as Home Depot or similar providers. To support this, we are working on adding cost estimation features—allowing users to receive approximate pricing and material quantity calculations based on the surfaces they modify and the materials they select. This would make ARID not only a design tool but also a practical resource for budgeting and purchasing decisions.In future phases, we also aim to support more complex spatial editing, such as modifying wall dimensions or reconfiguring layout elements, further enhancing ARID’s value as an immersive and actionable interior design platform.
In many ways, the development of ARID felt like a kind of creative magic. We began by clearly defining our goals and maintained a consistent rhythm of weekly meetings to track progress, solve problems, and adapt as needed. This steady, iterative process was key to moving quickly without losing focus.One of the biggest lessons was the importance of continuous learning. We made full use of online resources, community knowledge, and open-source tools to accelerate development. In today’s digital environment, there is a wealth of information available—you just have to stay curious and keep going.Ultimately, rapid innovation isn’t about rushing; it’s about setting clear goals, staying committed, and being willing to learn and adapt at every step. If you move forward with intention and persistence, the destination will become clear.
In ARID, achieving a balance between technical accuracy and intuitive user experience was especially important when designing the furniture and material interfaces. Material rendering is not just about color or brightness—it’s fundamentally tied to real-world dimensions and spatial alignment.When the system begins, ARID scans the physical environment to generate a precise 3D model of the space, including accurate wall, floor, and ceiling measurements. For example, if a scanned wall is 280 x 280 cm and the selected tile is 30 x 30 cm, the system automatically calculates the correct number of tile repetitions along the UV axes to ensure that the material is applied seamlessly and proportionally. This prevents visual distortion and guarantees that what users see matches the real-world scale.We also implemented a tile rotation feature, which uses mathematical adjustments to maintain pattern integrity when rotated in 90-degree increments, avoiding stretching or misalignment.Furniture components such as toilets, sinks, and bathtubs are pre-scaled to match real-life dimensions. To further enhance spatial realism, we added collision feedback—so when users place objects like a bathtub, they receive subtle visual or haptic cues, simulating how it would behave in a physical room.
Looking ahead, one of our top priorities is to integrate ARID with home improvement retail systems, allowing users to calculate material costs and directly order supplies within the app. This would turn ARID from a visualization tool into a fully actionable platform—streamlining the renovation process from design to execution by combining AR-based previews with real-time pricing and logistics.In parallel, we are working toward AI-powered material and layout suggestions. By analyzing user preferences, space types, and budget constraints, the system could recommend compatible tiles, color palettes, or surface combinations—empowering users to make confident design decisions with minimal effort.Another major opportunity is enabling real-time multi-user collaboration, where homeowners, designers, and contractors can interact in the same AR environment—either remotely or on-site. This would significantly improve communication and reduce misunderstandings during the renovation process.Lastly, we see value in enhancing real-time lighting simulation, allowing users to preview how materials will appear under different lighting conditions or times of day. While this is technically demanding, it offers tremendous potential to improve realism and user confidence.