RESEARCH REPORT & VENTURE BLUEPRINTSpatial User Experience Design in built environments: Bridging Interior architecture with spatial computing Yasharth Srivastava Academic Institution: MIT World Peace University (MIT-WPU), Pune

ABOUT ME Author: Yasharth Srivastava Academic Institution: MIT World Peace University (MIT-WPU), Pune Department: School of Design (Interior & Space Design) Interdisciplinary Focus: B.Des (Interior Design) & BCA (Computer Applications) Target Specialization: Spatial UX Design / AR-VR Product Design Venture Project: Voxura (Academic Prototype) Professional Narrative I operate at the precise convergence of Interior Architecture and Spatial Computing. My background is a deliberate hybrid of physical architecture and digital logic. By combining my interior design foundation (anthropometrics, circulation, and lighting) with my technical BCA background, I do not just design flat 2D screens—I treat the entire physical room as the interface. This hybrid perspective addresses a critical industry gap: traditional UI/UX designers struggle with 3D depth and physical lighting, while software engineers often lack architectural empathy. My focus is designing immersive digital experiences that are architecturally grounded, ergonomically comfortable, and technically feasible. Research Overview: This research investigates Spatial User Experience (UX) Design by bridging physical architecture with digital logic. Rather than using digital tools merely to view a 2D space, the study explores how spatial computing physically transforms the ergonomics, layout, and design of built environments. By treating the entire physical room as the interactive interface, the project establishes architectural guidelines for digital ergonomics, human circulation, and interactive spatial interfaces within mixed-reality interiors.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION & CONNECTION TO INTERIOR DESIGN 1.1 What is Spatial User Experience (UX) Design? Spatial User Experience (UX) Design is the practice of designing how people interact with digital information placed directly inside 3D physical spaces. Instead of forcing users to look down at flat, two-dimensional glass screens like smartphones or laptops, this field treats the entire physical room as the interface. Normally, traditional app designers struggle to understand 3D depth and real- world lighting, while pure software engineers often lack empathy for physical architecture. Spatial UX bridges this gap. It takes the digital logic of computer applications and grounds it in the physical reality of interior space. By doing this, we make sure that new technology adapts to the human body, rather than forcing the human body to hunch over flat screens.Fig 1 Image appears to show an immersive spatial design concept mockup by IA Interior Architects

INTRODUCTION & CONNECTION TO INTERIOR DESIGN 1.2 Why Spatial UX Directly Connects to Interior Design Because Spatial UX treats the room as the interface, it relies entirely on the basic rules of interior design. You cannot design a good digital room without understanding how a physical room works. Here is how they connect: Human Scale & Anthropometrics: In interior design, we use human body measurements to decide the height of a desk or a doorway. In Spatial UX, we use these exact same measurements to place floating digital menus. Digital buttons must sit within a natural reaching distance and a comfortable viewing angle— specifically a 30 to 60-degree field of view. If floating menus are placed poorly, the user will experience neck strain and muscle fatigue known as "Gorilla Arm". Circulation Flow: An interior designer plans how people walk through a space without bumping into things. Spatial UX must do the same. Digital overlays and virtual objects must guide human movement naturally. A digital menu or 3D object cannot block a physical pathway or clutter a hallway, ensuring the user can walk through the room safely. Sensory Layering: Interior design is about setting an atmosphere using physical light, materials, and sound. Spatial UX builds on this by layering digital lighting and 3D directional sound directly onto physical architectural materials. For example, a digital interface should cast a realistic digital shadow onto a real wooden table, helping the user's brain believe the object is truly there. Environmental Context (Proxemics & Occlusion): Digital items must understand the real physical world around them. Through a concept called proxemics, digital interfaces are designed to react to distance, such as a menu expanding as a person physically walks closer to it. Furthermore, a concept called occlusion ensures that real furniture blocks digital objects. If you place a digital vase behind a real physical sofa, the real sofa must hide the digital vase from view.

TECHNICAL TERMINOLOGIES & MECHANICS 2.1 To understand how spatial computing merges with interior design, you need to understand the mechanics that make digital objects feel physically real. Here are the core terms explained simply: Proxemics: The study of how physical distance changes how we interact with digital interfaces. For example, a floating digital dashboard might automatically expand or show larger text as a user physically walks closer to it. Occlusion: A visual rule that ensures real physical objects block digital ones. If you place a virtual vase behind a real physical sofa, the physical sofa must hide the digital vase from your view. This grounds the digital layer in the physical reality of the room. Spatial Audio: 3D directional sound that mimics how real-world acoustics behave. Instead of sound playing equally in both ears, it sounds like it is bouncing off a specific physical wall or coming directly from a digital object in the corner of the room. Field of View (FOV): The natural, comfortable viewing angle for human eyes, which sits specifically between 30 and 60 degrees. If floating 3D menus are placed outside this zone, it forces the user to turn their head awkwardly, causing physical fatigue and cervical spine strain. Digital Twins: An exact, 1:1 scale interactive 3D replica of a physical room. In real estate, these are used as immersive walkthroughs so buyers can experience the true volume and scale of an unbuilt apartment. Glassmorphism: A popular visual design style that makes digital interfaces look like frosted glass. In spatial design (using web-based 3D tools like Spline or Bezi), glassmorphic menus allow users to read digital text without completely blocking their view of the physical room behind the menu. Ambient Computing: Technology that blends invisibly into the built environment. Instead of forcing users to look at visual clutter or physical screens, it uses responsive surface illumination and spatial audio cues to naturally guide human circulation through spaces like airports or museums.

Design Problem Traditional Physical Architecture Digital Spatial UX Logic Workspace Ergonomics Designing physical desk heights and clearances based on a stationary person looking at a flat monitor. Redefining reach zones and physical clearance buffers so users can interact with 360- degree floating interfaces without hitting real walls. Testing a Room Layout Building expensive, static brick-and-mortar sample flats that cannot be easily changed. Conducting rapid visual spatial layout and flow testing directly inside a VR/MR headset using tools like ShapesXR. Customizing Room Materials Physically tearing down walls or replacing heavy physical materials to show a new design. Using Unity 3D and basic C# scripting to instantly change a wall color or swap furniture materials with a digital button click. TECHNICAL TERMINOLOGIES & MECHANICSFig 2 Vision pro by Apple

INDUSTRY BENCHMARK & APPLICATIONS 3.1 Market Leaders: Who is Mastering Spatial UX? The industry is currently divided into companies that make the hardware, agencies that build the experiences, and architecture firms that use the technology to sell real spaces. Here is a breakdown of who is leading the way: Global Leaders Apple & Meta: These tech giants are creating the actual headsets and operating systems that make spatial computing possible. Gensler (DXD): The world’s largest architecture firm has a special division that embeds interactive digital screens and sensors directly into physical office buildings. teamLab: A famous digital art group from Japan that creates borderless rooms where digital light projections change based on where humans walk or touch the walls. National Leaders (India) AutoVRse: One of India’s top studios building 3D spatial experiences and virtual reality training rooms for large industries. Livspace & Foyr: Leading the Indian real estate market by using Augmented Reality (AR) so customers can see how a piece of furniture looks in their physical living room before buying it. TCS Interactive & Accenture Song: Massive Indian tech companies building virtual workspaces, metaverse collaboration tools, and smart retail stores for global businesses. Pune Leaders: The local ecosystem is driven by experiential and marketing studios. Evonix specializes in AR/VR experiential marketing and interactive kiosk design. IOVR Space focuses heavily on immersive storytelling, architecture visualization, and virtual reality spaces. Oorja Interactive leads in creating digital solutions for exhibitions, museums, and brand spaces.

3.2 Core Services: What Do Spatial UX Designers Do? To build these experiences, Spatial UX designers use a very specific set of tools to bridge the gap between interior design and software logic. Immersive Prototyping (ShapesXR): Instead of sketching a room on a flat piece of paper, designers put on a VR headset and block out the room layout while standing inside it. This allows them to test if a digital menu is too high to reach, or if a virtual object blocks a physical doorway, all without writing a single line of code. Web-Based 3D Interfaces (Spline / Bezi): Designers use these tools to build 3D objects and interactive menus that can be viewed directly on a normal internet browser. This is how they create "glassmorphic" (frosted glass) menus that float in 3D space. VR Interactive Sales Galleries (Unity 3D): Unity is the core software engine used to bring everything to life. Designers import their 3D room models into Unity and add basic logic so the room becomes interactive. For example, they can program a digital button so that when a homebuyer clicks it in VR, the wall color changes instantly or a virtual door opens. INDUSTRY BENCHMARK & APPLICATIONSFig 3 Logos of softwares listed (from left to right) ShapesXR, Spline, Bezi & Unity 3D

Brand Name: Voxura Tagline: Translating Physical Space into Digital Experiences. The Core Aim To eliminate the spatial imagination gap in real estate and architecture by transforming static 2D blueprints into fully interactive, human-centered spatial experiences. Voxura exists to prove that digital tools should not just be used to view a space, but to investigate and improve how spatial computing physically transforms the design, ergonomics, and layout of built environments. The Vision A built-environment paradigm where every commercial and residential space is digitally walked, tested, and optimized for human interaction before physical fabrication begins. We envision a future where traditional UI/UX flat screens are entirely replaced by spatial interfaces, treating the entire physical room as the interface. The Mission To equip Tier 1 real estate developers (such as Godrej Properties and DLF), interior designers, and experiential enterprises with intuitive, high-fidelity AR/VR spatial applications. By bridging physical architecture from MIT-WPU with the digital systems logic of a BCA, Voxura delivers immersive prototypes and VR sales galleries that accelerate sales, validate ergonomics, and eliminate costly layout errors. BRAND IDENTITY & STRATEGIC DEFINITION: VOXURA

Core Brand Values Ergonomic Empathy: We prioritize the physical human body in every digital interaction. By adhering to strict sightline angles (a 30° to 60° Field of View) and natural reach zones, we prevent visual fatigue and physical strain such as "Gorilla Arm" in mixed reality environments. Architectural Precision: We respect real-world physical boundaries. Our digital overlays and floating spatial objects are designed to adapt to interior anthropometrics, proxemics, and human circulation paths so they never clutter or obstruct physical flow. Sensory Authenticity: We believe digital elements must react realistically to the ambient environment. We prioritize the seamless layering of directional lighting simulation, spatial acoustics, and physical-digital occlusion onto physical architectural finishes like concrete and wood. Technical Accessibility: We abstract heavy backend software engineering away from the end-user. By leveraging industry-standard XR engines like Unity 3D and web-based 3D prototyping tools like Spline and Bezi, we build complex interactive spatial wireframes that anyone can navigate intuitively. The Unique Value Proposition (UVP) Traditional UI designers struggle with 3D depth and physical lighting, while software engineers lack architectural empathy. Voxura operates at the exact intersection of these fields. We do not just build standard 3D visualizer tools; we define the spatial ergonomics and anthropometric boundaries in mixed-reality interiors, ensuring that the technology adapts to the physical human body rather than forcing the user to adapt to the screen. BRAND IDENTITY & STRATEGIC DEFINITION: VOXURA

BRAND IDENTITY & STRATEGIC DEFINITION: VOXURA

BRAND IDENTITY & STRATEGIC DEFINITION: VOXURA

BRAND IDENTITY & STRATEGIC DEFINITION: VOXURA

The Discover phase identifies the core breakdowns and friction points occurring at the intersection of interior design and spatial computing. It defines the exact industry problems that make Spatial UX Design necessary. 5.1 The Core Problem Statement: The Spatial Disconnect The fundamental challenge in modern spatial computing is a strict divide between software development and physical space planning: The 2D UI/UX Deficit: Traditional UI/UX designers excel at organizing flat screens (phones, tablets, desktop monitors). However, they often lack formal training in 3D depth, physical lighting, materials, and human scale. When tasked with building spatial interfaces, they tend to design flat rectangles that float in mid-air, ignoring the physical architecture around them. The Software Engineering Deficit: Pure software engineers and game developers know how to write interaction code and build 3D engines. However, they rarely have an architectural foundation in anthropometrics, spatial circulation, or human ergonomics. As a result, immersive environments often feel like video games rather than comfortable, functional spaces. Because of this division, spatial computing applications are routinely treated as standard software running in a void, rather than digital layers living inside actual physical rooms. DISCOVER PHASE

5.2 Primary Friction Points in Built Environments When digital systems are introduced into physical architecture without spatial design principles, specific problems emerge: A. Ergonomic Strain & Physical Fatigue Traditional architectural standards (such as desk heights, reach zones, and clearances) are calculated for people sitting still and looking at stationary physical objects. Spatial computing breaks these assumptions: Floating 3D menus placed outside the natural 30° to 60° Field of View force users to constantly turn their heads, leading to neck and spine strain. Placing interactive virtual buttons too far away requires users to hold their arms outstretched in mid-air, causing rapid muscle exhaustion (known as "Gorilla Arm" syndrome). B. Navigational Clutter & Spatial Disorientation In many mixed-reality setups and virtual tours, users struggle to navigate intuitively: Digital overlays often block physical pathways, doors, or sightlines, causing visual confusion and spatial disorientation. Virtual objects frequently fail to respect real-world physical boundaries (occlusion), making the digital layer feel disconnected and ungrounded from the physical room. C. The Real Estate Imagination Gap In architecture and property sales (PropTech), there is a persistent gap between design intent and client comprehension: Most clients cannot translate 2D blueprints or static 3D renderings into a realistic sense of scale, ceiling height, or daylight conditions. Physical sample flats are expensive to construct, static, and impossible to customize dynamically, leaving buyers uncertain about spatial proportions before physical construction begins. DISCOVER PHASE

To validate the integration of spatial computing within built environments, this research analyzes three distinct industry leaders currently operating at the intersection of architecture, immersive technology, and Spatial UX Design. Case Study 1: Gensler DXD (Digital Experience Design) Project: Insight Headquarters & Enterprise Workspaces Project Overview: Gensler, the world’s largest architecture firm, utilizes a dedicated Digital Experience Design (DXD) division to embed interactive digital layers directly into corporate interiors. For the Insight Headquarters, they replaced static lobby design with a 22-foot kinetic sculpture and 86-inch interactive touch tables that respond to physical human presence and community data. Relevance to Spatial UX: This case study proves that digital interfaces are no longer confined to desktop monitors. Gensler treats the architectural surfaces of the workspace as the interactive interface. Interior Design Connection: The project relies on Ambient Computing. Instead of forcing users to wear headsets or look down at screens, the digital touchpoints are scaled to human anthropometrics and integrated directly into the physical circulation paths of the lobby and innovation centers, ensuring the technology enhances, rather than obstructs, spatial flow. SECONDARY RESEARCH: EXISTING MARKET CASE STUDIESProject Background & Vision The 241,000-square-foot Insight Headquarters in Chandler, Arizona, was designed by Gensler and completed in early 2023. The corporate experiential workspace for Insight Enterprises was executed by Gensler's Digital Experience Design (DXD) team.

Case Study 2: teamLab Borderless (Mori Building Digital Art Museum) Project: Spatial Immersive Environments & Borderless Art Link for Reference: Project Overview: teamLab is an interdisciplinary group of "ultratechnologists" (programmers, architects, and CG animators) who completely control the physical floor plan of the Mori Building in Tokyo. Using over 500 projectors and localized spatial sound, they create "borderless" environments where the digital art reacts to human movement (e.g., digital flowers sprouting where a user physically steps). Relevance to Spatial UX: This demonstrates the ultimate application of digital- physical occlusion and proxemics. The digital projections understand the physical boundaries of the room and the exact proximity of the users inside it. Interior Design Connection: teamLab rejects the traditional museum layout (art on walls behind barriers). By utilizing directional spatial audio and responsive lighting that layers directly onto architectural finishes, they alter human depth perception and guide foot traffic entirely through digital sensory cues rather than physical signage. SECONDARY RESEARCH: EXISTING MARKET CASE STUDIESProject Background & Vision The teamLab Borderless museum is a permanent, record-breaking digital art installation that originally opened in the Odaiba district and relocated to its current flagship facility in Azabudai Hills, Tokyo.

Case Study 3: AutoVRse (Enterprise XR & Spatial Computing) Project: Spatial Computing & VR Prototyping for Architecture Project Overview: AutoVRse is a top-tier Indian XR studio building high-fidelity spatial experiences. Their spatial computing frameworks allow architects and retail brands to walk through empty physical storefronts wearing VR headsets, enabling them to visualize layouts, place virtual walls, and test lighting dynamically in 1:1 scale before any physical construction begins. Relevance to Spatial UX: This case study validates the core business model of Voxura and the necessity of interactive VR sales galleries. It highlights how spatial computing maps the real world so digital objects feel like they exist in physical space. Interior Design Connection: AutoVRse utilizes Binaural Spatial Audio and Field of View (FOV) mechanics to recreate realistic soundscapes and visual depth for architectural walkthroughs. This allows interior designers to evaluate auditory ergonomics and test the physical clearances of virtual workstations in real-time using engines like Unity 3D. SECONDARY RESEARCH: EXISTING MARKET CASE STUDIESProject Background & Vision AutoVRse is an Enterprise VR/AR & Spatial Computing platform provider (not a single project with a fixed end date). The company functions as a permanent studio and technology vendor, delivering over 200+ individual XR deployments for corporate clients since its inception.

B2B ENTERPRISE CLIENTS (BUYERS) • PropTech Real Estate Developers • Architecture & Interior Studios • Enterprise Corporate WorkspacesSTAKEHOLDER ECOSYSTEM MAPPING CREATOR CORE (INTERNAL TEAM) Spatial UX Designers (Lead/Bridge) 3D Environment Artists (Assets) XR Technical Engineers (Logic) END-USERS (B2C CONSUMERS) Off-Plan Property Homebuyers Hybrid Corporate Workers Experiential Retail Visitors Commissioning & Spatial Brief ROI, Sales Acceleration,Design validation INFRASTRUCTURE & ECOSYSTEM PARTNERS XR Hardware OEMs (Apple, Meta) Software Tool Providers (Unity, Figma, ShapesXR) Building Regulators & Ergonomics Standards Academic Mentors & Design Researchers SDKs, Standards & Compliance Ergonomic Feedback Usability Interface