Ongoing Projects
Reviving Karanis In 3D
The story of a Greco-Roman agricultural town
Sustainable Heritage in VR
Explore Sheikh Isa House, Bahrain and its cooling architectural features
Breathing Life Into Meketre’s Tomb Models In VR
An immersive journey into the daily life of Middle Kingdom Egypt,
Mission and Objectives
The Visualization and Virtual Reality Lab (VVR Lab) within the Interior Design Program at Virginia Tech’s School of Design is dedicated to providing experiential learning opportunities for students while advancing research in digital applications for museum design, cultural heritage preservation, and education.
Exhibitions
An Immersive Exploration of an Arabian Home
A Journey Through Time and Tradition (Cyclorama)
ICAT Day 2024
Sustainable Heritage Exploration
The Virtual Educational Application of Sheikh Isa House in Bahrain
ICAT Day 2024
Meet the Grads
Gensler Architecture
Washington, DC
AAD FIRG Exhibition
Cowgill Hall
In The News
Exhibition Installation Award– F@IMP 2025
Roots of Eternity was selected as a winner of the 2024–2025 Festival of Audiovisual International Multimedia Patrimony (F@IMP), organized by AVICOM, the International Committee for Audiovisual, New Technologies, and Social Media of ICOM (International Council of Museums).
The project received the award in the category Exhibition Installation: Interpretation, standing out among submissions from leading cultural and academic institutions worldwide.
ICAT Playdate — Breathing Life into Meketre’s Garden in VR
Roots of Eternity is a multisensory immersive exhibition that digitally reunites and reanimates the 4,000-year-old garden model from the Tomb of Meketre using VR, projection mapping, spatial audio, scent, and animated storytelling. The project premiered at the Cube and was later adapted for the Target Gallery at the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, Virginia.
Featured in: “Virginia Tech Science Festival draws thousands to Blacksburg campus”
The models from Meketre’s tomb are currently housed in various museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. They provide a rare 3D look into the daily life of Middle Kingdom Egypt. Using virtual reality, Virginia Tech researchers have brought colors and life to the tomb, offering a glimpse of what it might have looked like in its glory.
VT News. Rodney Kimbangu, November 15 2024
ICAT Playdate — Building a Sustainable Future
“This project explores passive sustainable design in vernacular architecture, focusing on hot and arid climates in the Arab world and the Middle East.”
ICAT September 27, 2024
Virtual reality transports designers into the past for sustainable solutions to heat.
“An interdisciplinary team under the direction of Eiman Elgewely, assistant professor of interior design in the College of Architecture, Arts, and Design, is looking to the past for solutions.”
VT News. Lindsey Byars , December 14 2023
Visualization and Virtual Reality Lab 