Through the fracture
Concept and Spatial Narrative
The installation situates visitors inside a room that gradually fractures in response to their head movement, revealing a new world forming behind the cracks. The effect mirrors the exhibition’s central question: how creativity ignites precisely when the familiar begins to fall apart.
AI & Spatial Ideation
The project began with a full spatial scan of the room using Scanniverse. This provided a precise 3D reference model for ideation and early composition. Initial forms were modeled in Blender and then imported into ShapesXR, enabling rapid prototyping at true scale. Walking through the concept in MR allowed for immediate validation of sightlines, narrative rhythm, and visitor flow.
I used generative AI to explore early concepts for the virtual world, testing different atmospheres, spatial moods, and environmental directions. These image-based explorations helped me quickly visualize potential 3D elements before any 3D generation or modeling work began. This process clarified the world’s identity and guided the transition into full-scale prototyping.
Anchor & Sign creation
A key physical component of the installation was the Anchor & Wall Art- created using KAV, my mixed-reality crafting tool. I traced the main shapes directly inside MR, translating digital forms into physical outputs without printing templates or generating unnecessary waste. This workflow established the Wall Art as both a narrative anchor and a bridge between the virtual and physical layers.
Virtual Layer and Interaction Design
- Breaking walls functionality - The MR experience was developed in Unity using the Meta XR SDK. Leveraging the destructible mesh system allowed the environment to fracture organically, reinforcing the theme of breaking the current reality. Visitor's head movement dynamically triggers shifts in the space, revealing fragments of an emerging world behind the walls and eventually as part of the physical space.
- Graphic Visual language - Creating 'blob' shader
- 3D World creation - Using Midjourney and Meshy.ai to create main 3D elements
Outcome
Through the Fracture merges location-based MR, physical fabrication, and generative design into a unified spatial narrative. The project reflects both a personal story and an ongoing exploration of how mixed reality can serve as a medium for emotional, material, and conceptual transformation.
What I learned
This was my first location-based MR experience, which required precise spatial alignment, anchoring strategies, and careful orchestration of digital layers mapped onto a real environment. The exhibition enforced no-movement safety constraints, so I designed the interaction model around micro-movements of the head rather than full-body navigation.
Delivering the full concept, design, technical implementation, and final build in a week and a half as a solo creator taught me how to scope intelligently, optimize workflows, and push an MR prototype to exhibition-ready quality under significant time pressure.