'Thinking Inside the Box': A Mixed Reality Development Platform for co-creating energy efficient retail spaces

在英国，零售网点是商业地产行业中最大的二氧化碳排放者。许多零售企业都在努力减少碳足迹，许多企业都制定了未来几年实现碳中和的雄心勃勃的目标。这项可行性研究旨在找出大幅降低零售业终端能源需求的新方法。拟议工作的新颖性既在于其范围，也在于它将开发的技术。这项研究不会将能源使用和人类舒适度直接归因于空间设计、建筑服务、能源控制、公司能源政策或人类行为，而是探索所有这些影响在一个混合现实的零售环境中的交集。这将采取交互式游戏模型的形式，作为在商店中部署有形用户界面的便携式“盒子”。它将允许用户将能源使用及其后果“可视化”，作为更广泛的能源参与战略的一部分。这个盒子将包括一个实体店布局的比例模型和一套编码的干预卡片，这些卡片将允许参与者与桌子上的物理模型以及虚拟模型中的物理模型进行交互-物理和虚拟交互的混合建立了一个混合现实设计平台(MRDP)。来自现有商店传感器的实时数据可以直接输入虚拟模型，以便在用户与模型交互时通知和响应场景测试。商店员工和客户将能够通过混合使用物理、虚拟和展示模块来主动或被动地使用该模型。这种严肃的游戏环境将提供一种刺激和互动的方式来分享想法和共同创造新的解决方案。最重要的是，MRDP将通常是无形的数字数据库(由性能传感器收集的数字)转变为交互式和身临其境的体验，以允许用户在保持积极购物体验的同时，共同创造减少能源消耗的新方法，从而允许持续测试和改进。从这一严肃的游戏活动中积累的经验将为未来减少能源需求的战略提供参考，同时兼顾其他性能标准(例如室内空气质量、热舒适性和客户体验)。MRDP的移动性和放置使零售楼层或屋后区域成为学习的平台，并推动与利益相关者建立更开放的关系。我们的主要研究伙伴是英国最大的零售商Tesco PLC，收入超过550亿GB。乐购有一个雄心勃勃的承诺，要在2050年成为零碳企业，作为这一承诺的一部分，他们的目标是在未来4年内将碳排放量减少50%。这项研究将通过开发一种令人兴奋的方法来加速他们实现公司目标的进程，从而支持他们的目标，并将帮助该组织在减少能源需求领域处于当前技术和思维的先锋地位。

In the UK retail outlets are the biggest emitters of CO2 within the commercial property sector. Many retail business are striving to reduce their carbon footprints, with many having ambitious targets for carbon neutrality over the next few years. This feasibility study aims to identify new ways to dramtically reduce end use energy demand within the retail sector. The novelty of the proposed work lies both in its scope and the technologies that it will develop. Rather than attributing energy use and human comfort directly to spatial design, building services, energy controls, company energy policy or human behaviour, this research will explore the intersection of all of these influences within a 'mixed reality' retail environment. This would take the form of an interactive 'gaming' model as a portable 'box' with a tangible user interface deployed in store. It would allow users to 'visualise' energy use and its consequences as part of a broader energy engagement strategy. The box would comprise a scale model of a physical store layout and a set of coded intervention cards that would allow participants to interact with the physical model on the table as well as in the virtual model - the blend between physical and virtual interactions establishes a mixed reality design platform (MRDP). Real time data from existing store sensors can feed directly into the virtual model to inform and respond to scenario testing as users interact with the model. Store staff and customers would be able to engage with the model proactively or passively via a mix of physical, virtual and display modules. This serious gaming environment will provide a stimulating and interactive way of sharing ideas and co-creating new solutions. Most importantly, the MRDP transforms what is normally an intangible numerical database (numbers collected by performance sensors) into an interactive and immersive experience to allow for continual testing and refinement with the opportunity of users co-creating novel approaches to reducing energy use while maintaining a positive shopping experience. The learning that accrues through this serious gaming activity would inform future strategies for reducing energy demand whilst simultaneously attending to other performance criteria (e.g. internal air quality, thermal comfort and the customer experience). The mobility and placement of the MRDP allows the retail floor or back of house area to become a platform for learning and drives a more open relationship with stakeholders. Our principal research partner is Tesco PLC, the UK's largest retailer with revenue of over £55 Billion. Tesco have an ambitious commitment to become a zero carbon business by 2050, and as part of this they aim to reduce carbon emissions in store by 50% over the next 4 years. This research would support their objectives by developing an exciting method of accelerating their progress towards their corporate goal and will help position the organisation at the vanguard of current technology and thinking in the energy demand reduction space.