Post-Occupancy

If you're registered to the online presence of the Italian magazine domus -- and if you're not I recommend it, especially since it's free -- go check out the new free virtual tour of OMA's student center at IIT, part of the forthcoming domus d'autore, or Post-Occupancy by AMO and Rem Koolhaas.



The Shockwave virtual tour works like a QuickTime VR, with hotspots within the scenes and a handy collapsible, interactive map that also indicates the current location and view direction.



With user interaction missing from so much architectural photography today, these interactive vignettes look like helpful tools for seeing how a building is used long after the architect has "left the building."



I can't help but wonder, though, if these panoramas (in general, not necessarily at IIT) are less than spontaneous. I'm not sure exactly how they're shot, but I see them as closer to very early photography and long exposures or stitched compositions of multiple images, rather than quick fraction of a second snaps. But, hey, I've been known to be wrong.