Space Elevator VR

Spatial Design Tool with a Twist

Project Info

Space Elevator is a free VR app for spatial design. Unlike conventional design software, it prioritizes experiential design, incorporates narrative-driven puzzles, and seamlessly weaves elements of playful interaction into the user experience.

Developed by
Numena GmbH

Year
2024

Status
Shipped

My Role
UX Designer

I can’t talk give details about my design process as this project is protected by an NDA. I can, however, talk about our

Achievements

Transforming the user experience.

  • My UX approach involved more than just creating user flows and wireframes. In addition, I conducted a deeper analysis to explore how the virtual user experience itself can enhance user creativity.

    This was achieved by developing unique user research and user testing methods based on user-centered, iterative, and embodied design principles, in close collaboration with the product owner.

  • Space Elevator stands out from traditional architectural software due to its intuitive and user-friendly interface. In just 15 minutes, you can master the app and learn how to model 3D spaces easily—whether you’re an architect or not.

    To achieve this, I included people with zero experience in 3D modeling, as well as experienced architects, in our user studies. Their performance confirmed that the app is intuitive to everyone regardless of experience.

Revolutionizing design software.

  • Unlike conventional CAD software, Space Elevator places emphasis on the experiential aspects of design.

    Through the use of an embodied virtual environment, each architectural element is interactive and true-to-size. This approach allows you to delve into a design process centered around a space's lived experience and feel.

    You can experiment with a room’s ceiling height, explore how color influences your perception, create soundscapes, or go beyond conventional architecture and create truly otherworldly spaces.

    I’ve been particularly interested in embodied design methods and lived experience since my studies at Malmö University, so I employed methods from embodied interaction design.

  • Space Elevator features playful interaction elements seamlessly woven into the user experience, such as shooting materials into architectural elements.

    In addition, it comes with gameful elements such as narrative-driven architectural puzzles that users can delve into.

    Using playful and gameful elements is highly effective for retaining users and stimulating their creativity.

Maximizing VR’s potential.

  • Despite VR's potential for immersive experiences, many VR apps still rely on 2D menus as their primary mode of navigation.

    Space Elevator utilizes VR's strengths. We don’t only use spatial menus and UIs—we reimagine them as immersive scenes in virtual space.

  • VR offers a unique opportunity to experience impossible situations. Space Elevator uses VR as a medium for users to create surreal spaces and explore them firsthand.

    For example, users can create houses with floating furniture or experience what it’s like to be in a room with walls made of water.

    I discovered that users love transcending the limits of reality during our user studies, which were highly creative and qualitative. The participants can attest to having fun while testing our product!

What people are saying.

  • "Space Elevator is something special. I wish somebody from the Industrial/Mechanical CAD could use the same principle used there for UI/UX. I have had so much fun following the tutorial. It is so intuitive. "

    Ricardo, Review on Meta

  • "Imagine being a UI/UX nerd and not drooling and entering a new stage of life when you witness this"

    @Valuemancer on X

  • "Intuitive Mechanics! I'm blown away by what I've experienced so far! This is a tool that's going to redefine our creative horizons. We're not just talking about building structures, but also getting the feeling of scale (together with any other feelings a built environment may trigger) during the design process!"

    Betul, Review on Meta

  • "You can tell the developers have spent a lot of time making stuff in VR and so they know what you need in order to build, but have taken it further to make it also fun. For example, shooting the colors into objects. "

    Pearl Hyacinth, Review on Meta

  • "I'm so delighted inside Space Elevator. I love the intro tutorial, the lighthearted approach to learning, the simplicity and beauty of the objects and materials. The physical objects and metaphors you use are really pleasing. I started building a new house, found the sounds so got some opera and bird song to accompany me during the next hour that was delightfully spent dreaming up a fantasy house."

    Maf’j Alvarez, Review on Sidequest

  • "Yup! I finished the tutorial/ walkthrough and am gonna build something tomorrow. The world needs a spiritual successor to Dreams and this can be so much bigger than architecture! Excited!"

    @AbolTaabol on X

  • "Still buzzing from this. It's incredible."

    @AbolTaabol on X

  • "Space Elevator is a well-thought out app with a clean design and multiple tools to work with. The tutorial is clearly laid out and provides a solid basis to start using the app. The main project control interface brought to mind both the movie Brazil and the TV studio tape transfer scene in Hackers - very cyberpunk and fun/cool."

    Charlie Athanas, Review on Meta

  • "This app is so easy to use and the creations I made are elegant and sophisticated. Really thoughtful 3D design which also includes the menus, Spatial Audio and more. The developers thought of every detail."

    Jessica, Review on Meta

  • "Such a great free app. The controls feel smooth and easy to get a grasp of. You can modify all the elements that make up a small example building which feels awesome. Will give a shot to creating my own house design next."

    Ystwyth, Review on Meta

My Role.

With expertise in both user experience and spatial design, I had a comprehensive perspective on the project.

  • I didn’t only create wireframes, user flows, and prototypes. I dug deeper into user experience design, aiming to questions such as the following:

    How might we boost user creativity in VR? How might we help users ease into the experience and be creative, leaving their worries behind?

    My design approach is user-centered, iterative, and based on embodied design principles.

  • My work is firmly grounded in user research. The goal was to explore qualitative elements of UX, such as increasing user creativity, or helping them ease into the creative experience, leaving their worries behind.

    To achieve each goal, I created unique methods for user research and testing in close collaboration with our director.

  • Interaction Design is an umbrella term for designing digital artifacts with a focus on user experience, and often synonymous with HCI.

    In this case, I refer to reviewing, designing, prototyping, and testing specific user interactions in VR.

    Going beyond usability, one of my points of focus was how the user feels when interacting with the Space Elevator system. My approach was based on an embodied approach to interaction design: what bodily sensations, emotions, and affects come into play during the interaction.

  • In this project, my experience as a practicing architect proved to be incredibly valuable for two reasons.

    Firstly, the app is a spatial design editor, a tool that all architects are familiar with.

    Secondly, my expertise in both interaction design and architecture was particularly useful for VR and spatial computing, where designers require a thorough understanding of spatial design.

Team

Andreea Ion Cojocaru

Concept Director

Barbora Tauerova

Art

Benjamin Bach

Lucas Kemna

Code, Art, Concept

Management

Maria Nikoli

UX Design

Ridlo Nuur

Code

Thandiwe Mangana

Code

Toni Matas

Art

Download the app for free.

Do you have a VR headset? If yes, you can download Space Elevator for free.
• Get it on Meta • Get it on Sidequest •