𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗞𝗟𝗔𝗕’𝘀 𝗩𝗶𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗖𝗼𝗰𝗼𝗼𝗻 is a Finalist in the 2025 Architizer 𝗩𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘀.

This recognition reinforces the project’s exploration of innovative fabrication methods informed by digital modeling, resulting in an installation that blurs the threshold between physical and digital realms.

Submitted in the 𝘊𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘳 𝘗𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩 category, where the visual narrative conveys the essence of the work, the Cocoon is seen as both an enigmatic backdrop and an active threshold: a space where material, technology, and perception converge.

The Virtual Reality (VR) Cocoon, a sculptural enclosure within the OMG Esports Venue in Shanghai, transforms a former swimming and fitness facility into an immersive digitized environment. This large-format enclosure, constructed from modular Glass Reinforced Gypsum (GFRG) panels, forms a pixelated geometry that challenges expected perceptions of physical space. Designed entirely from a digital model, the VR Cocoon is fabricated and installed as a series of 1.2-meter-wide by 3.0 meter-high panels. The design’s sculptural form creates a transformative threshold between the physical and virtual, blurring transitions between what is experienced as reality. The softly textured surface shifts color in an abstracted representation of a video monitor, while the minimal, white-on-white interior resets users to a blank canvas point of immersion. Both artifact and environment, the cocoon anchors the gaming venue with a presence that is tactile, spatially disorienting, and emblematic of the project's ambition to fuse design, technology, and experience.

The VR Cocoon creates a moment where material, light, and technology encourage an altered state of both experience and awareness. Being included among projects that reevaluate architecture as a layered reflection of space and time is an honor, and the Vision Awards serve as an important reminder of the impact experimental work can have beyond its immediate context.

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