Industrial heritage provides one of the most important records of social and technological progress and has international potential for education and development. This chapter presents the potential to use the virtual reality devices for informal education in technical and natural sciences. The hypothetical virtual appearance of an industrial power plant from the nineteenth century in Slovak city of Piešťany was intricately reconstructed by a combination of identified conserved valuable parts of the building and preserved original equipment and archival plans. This practical result—interactive virtual tool—educates about the lost heritage by allowing viewers to look closer and experience the former atmosphere of industrial work. During the virtual visits, users are motion tracked and invited to take photographs to mark the most interesting motives. Gathered data from this users’ observation were analyzed to find behavioral patterns and to give feedback information about the exhibition’s attractivity, used in further presentations.
Part of the book: Virtual Reality and Its Application in Education
The chapter ‘Mixed reality in the presentation of industrial heritage development’ is aimed at exploring opportunities for collaboration between theoretical research, monument preservation, virtual reality and architectural practice. It deals with the identified key factors that conditionally affect the quality and efficiency of architectural design process of architects within the cooperation in the conservation process of industrial heritage as well as the opportunities of transfer the research results from futuristic disciplines. For this purpose, the chapter examines the case study ‘the reconstruction of Old Power Plant in city Piešťany’ and describes possible solutions on the basis of the Mixed reality (MR). The opportunity to experience the industrial object with multiple senses (sight, hearing, smell, touch) in MR delivered a unique personalized experience and immersive memories about lost heritage.
Part of the book: Mixed Reality and Three-Dimensional Computer Graphics