Virtual Reality Meets the 16th Century with Winning Results

Media contact: Noelle Lemoine, communications assistant; tele: (413) 597-4277; email: [email protected]

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., Dec. 11, 2002–Virtual reality tours sound like “only in the 21st century.” So what would you think of a 16th-century virtual tour? It’s new sprung by three recent Williams College graduates. Their virtual tour of the Palazzo del Te, built in 1526 in Mantua, on the island of Te, and considered the quintessential example of Mannerist architecture can be found at www.williams.edu/art/palazzote.

The website was constructed by Michael and Barry Gross and Andrew Keating last year when they were seniors at Williams. It began as a student project to integrate the study of art history with interactive technology, under the sponsorship of E.J. Johnson, Class of 1955 Professor of Art, and with a grant from the Center for Technology in the Arts and Humanities.

The three students first tested their ideas using the Thompson Memorial Chapel on the Williams campus before pursuing their idea of filming a famous historical landmark. Molly Bourne, a Williams alumna and an art history teacher in Italy, arranged with Ugo Bazzotti, director of the Palazzo del Te, to allow the three students access to the Palazzo and to film it. All of the filming was done with a digital video camera during spring break of the students’ senior year.

“Projects like this, tailored to the pedagogy of the course, will significantly improve the way students learn about architecture,” said Michael Gross, who now works for a digital media/documentary production company. “Next to visiting the palace this is the most realistic representation you can get.”

The website features 360-degree camera rotation, with links to give a full view of the exterior of the palace and its interior rooms with its illusionistic fresco paintings. There are narrative summaries of the art and architecture for each link.

“The most unique aspect of this virtual reality tour is its extensiveness,” said Barry Gross, who is now working as a medical media specialist. “If you were to look at every angle, every detail, and read all the information on our site, it will take you the same amount of time as if you were to visit the Palazzo del Te in person.”

“Part of what sets the project apart is its broadness and the depth of the investigation and ‘mapping’ of a work of architecture,” said Keating, who is now working for a design and construction project. “The multi-media element is unique. I’ve seen the Quick Time Virtual Reality technology used for real estate applications and in the architecture world, but a web enterprise that ties the virtual reality model together with still photography, video, text, and drafted drawings is a new animal altogether.”

Prof. Johnson now hopes to have a “virtual church” of Sant’Andrea in Mantua, designed by Alberti in 1470, one of the major monuments of Renaissance architecture, and the church he studied for his dissertation.

“I’m so enthralled with being able to teach with virtual reality,” Johnson said. “When I showed the Palazzo del Te virtual tour to my class, there was a huge gasp from the audience when it began. It’s remarkable. What I want now is everything using this technology. Of course I can’t have it, but I can wish.”

END

Published December 11, 2002