
If City
2 min | 3D animation | MAYA | November 2022
Reimagines the rise and fall of Web 3.0, overproduction, organization of mass media, uneven power distribution happening online. Yet we ask "why can't we reach web 4.0?"

Q: WHY XR? IF XR IS TRUE?
If City
This project reverse-engineered the question "why XR" into "if XR is true" to construct a real time urban simulator that runs an ever-growing ecosystem of XR market. - depicting the future under the premise of XR technology. It seeks to establish an ever-growing and self-running ecosystem of XR urbanism.
2 min | 3D animation | Unreal Engine | April 2024
What remains after the relentless evolution of humanity, nature, and technology? "I see field but no beings. I hear wind but no conversations. I live in ruins but nothing works, until I found this place...”

Welcome
Main Video
Overview
Final Product
Winter Show
Demo Video
Concept Animation
Scenes
Pick A Scene
Slidedeck
Design
Lobby Design
Thought Beings
Question Spatial Archive
MoodBoard
Before Birth
Questoin Lobby
Living Query Sysetem
Lobby Architecture
FreeForm Streams
Training Level
Training Explain
Training Blueprint
Problem Flying in VR
Question Level
Question Overview
Path Diagram
Question Demo
Particle Diagram
Cylinder Diagram
AI Answer Creation
AI Generation
YourUniverse
Generation Overview
Generation Demo
Universe Level
Comparison Diagram
Transition Demo
Game Level Overview
Earth Level
Show Demo
Cesium GIS
Earth Level Overview
Earth Level Demo
Summary
If City : XR Urbanism Simulation
Overview
The final version of Answers at the End of the World is developed in Unreal Engine 5, optimized for PC-based VR experiences. The game is designed specifically for seated gameplay, making it accessible and comfortable for extended periods of exploration. The final version of Answers at the End of the World is developed in Unreal Engine 5, optimized for PC-based VR experiences. The game is designed specifically for seated gameplay, making it accessible and comfortable for extended periods of exploration.
Full Animation-- If City
At this perplexed and fluctuating XR market era, “If XR” is an urban simulator aiming to find the harmony point of the balance between human, nature, and technology.
In this era of perplexity and fluctuation within the extended reality (XR) market, 'If XR' emerges as an urban simulator dedicated to find the harmonious balance among humanity, nature, and technology through simulating an XR ecosystem for the speculation of avatar citizens' day-to-day behavior within the evolving market landscape.
If XR is an urban simulator, users are able to manipulate the city components, such as the population, building density, service types, and more to try to find the balance between nature, humanity, and technology. As a live speculative simulation, the project serves as a Petri dish, nurturing the evolution of an XR market ecosystem. City residents, portrayed as avatars, are cognitive AI entities autonomously making decisions shaped by their personalities and consumer types. The simulation model is designed based on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and The Value of Elements Pyramid by Harvard Business Review.
Trailer Video -- If XR
What remains after the relentless evolution of humanity, nature, and technology?
"I see field but no beings. I hear wind but no conversations. I live in ruins but nothing works, until I found this place...”
This animation depicts the core concept "If City" project. The story follows a solitary bionic wanders through the desolate remnants of humanity, the ruins stretching endlessly beneath a hollow sky. With no trace of life left on Earth, it continues its journey, driven by an unseen force—until, at last, it arrives at a place known only as If…
Capstone Presentation 2024
Reflecting on the history of XR products reveals a fundamental issue contributing to the struggles of the XR market: the mismatching of XR products' functionalities and market demand. “Why 3D?” becomes one of the most urgent questions. This finding has raised questions about the optimal content for 3D, and its real purpose. Is it true that 3D offers a more intuitive mode of communication, considering our existence in a three-dimensional material world? Examining the traditional way of communicating information in 2D was in fact more efficient than in 3D which was the common approach of most reality technology. This issue is more about design than technological advancement because we haven't discovered a truly important and engaging user experience that makes VR preferable to real-life activities. That's why this project aims to use design research on this technology to answer questions about the consumer patterns found in the XR market.
Research Paper
More detailed explanation of this project. This paper explores the mismatch between XR technology and real-world market needs by imagining a future where XR is fully integrated into urban life. While tech giants have heavily invested in XR, many products have failed due to unclear utility and user misalignment. In response, this project asks: If XR were truly adopted at scale, how would cities, markets, and human behavior evolve?
To address this, the study constructs a live, self-sustaining digital simulation of an XR-driven city. Through three experimental layers—urban infrastructure, XR consumer behavior, and a speculative HCI monitoring device—the paper investigates:
How urban structures might adapt to XR integration.
How XR consumer behaviors could evolve.
How XR activity could be monitored and visualized at scale.
The simulation reimagines New York City using principles from NEOM’s “The Line,” simulates avatar-driven market behaviors influenced by psychological models, and introduces Little Place, a physical-digital device to visualize the hybrid reality. The result is an immersive, speculative ecosystem that enables observers to experience and question the role of XR in shaping future urban life.

[ About Project ]
Answers at the End of the World is an introspective VR experience that guides players through six interconnected spaces: a Question Space for contemplating life's profound inquiries, a Training Arena to master VR controls, an Answer Terminal where thoughts flow in dynamic patterns, an AI Formation zone that transforms questions into visual experiences, a Universe displaying player-created answer spheres, and finally, an Earth space that grounds abstract concepts in geographical reality. These environments flow seamlessly together, creating a journey that emphasizes the value of both seeking and finding answers to life's deepest questions.
Most spaces in the experience are deliberately abstracted, drawing inspiration from Julie Mehretu's distinctive artistic approach to spatial representation. Like Mehretu's work, which layers complex architectural elements with abstract marks to create dynamic visual narratives, the VR environments combine multiple layers of meaning and interpretation. The abstract spaces merge AI-generated elements with human-created content, resulting in environments that are both structured and chaotic, precise and ambiguous. This multi-layered approach creates rich, complex spaces where computer vision graphics collide with human consciousness and emerging ideas. The resulting environments become a visual dialogue between technological interpretation and human perception, much like how Mehretu's paintings create dialogue between architectural precision and gestural abstraction.

Thesis Presentation
This project explores particle render as form of mixture of pieces of information reformulating as the shape of cloud and how to navigate such complexity of solid and fluid form in metaphor of web 3.999 as well as using color to contrast the mixed emotions.

[ If City Places ]
Answers at the End of the World is an introspective VR experience that guides players through six interconnected spaces: a Question Space for contemplating life's profound inquiries, a Training Arena to master VR controls, an Answer Terminal where thoughts flow in dynamic patterns, an AI Formation zone that transforms questions into visual experiences, a Universe displaying player-created answer spheres, and finally, an Earth space that grounds abstract concepts in geographical reality. These environments flow seamlessly together, creating a journey that emphasizes the value of both seeking and finding answers to life's deepest questions.
Most spaces in the experience are deliberately abstracted, drawing inspiration from Julie Mehretu's distinctive artistic approach to spatial representation. Like Mehretu's work, which layers complex architectural elements with abstract marks to create dynamic visual narratives, the VR environments combine multiple layers of meaning and interpretation. The abstract spaces merge AI-generated elements with human-created content, resulting in environments that are both structured and chaotic, precise and ambiguous. This multi-layered approach creates rich, complex spaces where computer vision graphics collide with human consciousness and emerging ideas. The resulting environments become a visual dialogue between technological interpretation and human perception, much like how Mehretu's paintings create dialogue between architectural precision and gestural abstraction.

Why XR?
In recent years, the popularity of integrating digital content into the real world has surged, yet many XR products struggle to survive in the market. This mismatch between XR products' functions and market demand has caused financial losses for companies like Google, Meta, and HTC investing in Reality Technology (VR, AR, and XR). The efficiency of traditional 2D communication has raised doubts about the optimal content and purpose of 3D, prompting XR companies to question "Why 3D?" as one of their most urgent questions.
Given the recent market failure of XR products as a result of 3D technology has not found its best suitable form as a tool, this project dissects the scenario into three primary aspects for examination: the XR consumption market, urban structures with XR technology, and the monitoring strategy for XR user experiences. Each aspect is accompanied by a key question and a designed experiment to address them. The questions are as follows:
1- If XR technology is common and widely adopted, how would our current urban structure interact with it?
2- What are the consumption patterns of XR users in the market?
3- What strategies can be developed to speculate massive XR activities within an urban network, effectively encapsulating the interactions between the physicality of reality and the digital communications?





Technology
Due to the nature of the game, the design of particles and abstracted spaces reflects the evolving relationship between questions and answers—a process that is never linear, always shifting, and inherently open-ended. Instead of static, predefined spaces, the environments are constructed from dynamic, fluid particles, much like thoughts forming and dissolving in response to inquiry. These particles behave as visualized uncertainties, constantly rearranging themselves, sometimes clustering into temporary structures, sometimes dispersing into ambiguity, mirroring the way answers emerge, change, or remain elusive over time.
Much like how questions give rise to multiple possible answers, the spaces in Answers at the End of the World are intentionally layered and indefinite, resisting fixed interpretations. Inspired by Julie Mehretu’s approach to spatial representation—where architectural structures dissolve into abstraction—these VR spaces merge AI-generated formations with human-created interventions, resulting in environments that are both structured and chaotic, precise and ambiguous. As players move through them, their actions shape the arrangement of particles, reinforcing the idea that the search for answers is an active, participatory process rather than a passive reception of information. This interplay between abstraction and structure forms a visual and experiential dialogue between technology’s attempt to define meaning and human perception’s fluid, interpretative nature. In the same way that a question can lead to infinite perspectives rather than a single conclusion, these spaces exist in a constant state of transformation, emphasizing that answers are not static endpoints but evolving landscapes shaped by thought, interaction, and interpretation.
Welcome
Main Video
Overview
Final Product
Winter Show
Demo Video
Concept Animation
Scenes
Pick A Scene
Slidedeck
Design
Lobby Design
Thought Beings
Question Spatial Archive
MoodBoard
Before Birth
Questoin Lobby
Living Query Sysetem
Lobby Architecture
FreeForm Streams
Training Level
Training Explain
Training Blueprint
Problem Flying in VR
Question Level
Question Overview
Path Diagram
Question Demo
Particle Diagram
Cylinder Diagram
AI Answer Creation
AI Generation
YourUniverse
Generation Overview
Generation Demo
Universe Level
Comparison Diagram
Transition Demo
Game Level Overview
Earth Level
Show Demo
Cesium GIS
Earth Level Overview
Earth Level Demo
Summary





Unreal Engine Real-time Simulation Tech Computation Setup
Simulation Render
In this space, there is no singular truth, no final resolution—only the continuous, dynamic process of seeking, evolving, and responding. The lobby is both a waiting room and a passage, a space where the act of questioning is as vital as the pursuit of answers. An abstract, ever-shifting space where unborn answers and thoughts flow in dynamic patterns. Players fly through the space to understand the how answers are forms through scatter thoughts.This area serves as a central hub, featuring color-coded currents of information and transforming architectural elements that respond to player presence and interaction.

Welcome
Main Video
Overview
Final Product
Winter Show
Demo Video
Concept Animation
Scenes
Pick A Scene
Slidedeck
Design
Lobby Design
Thought Beings
Question Spatial Archive
MoodBoard
Before Birth
Questoin Lobby
Living Query Sysetem
Lobby Architecture
FreeForm Streams
Training Level
Training Explain
Training Blueprint
Problem Flying in VR
Question Level
Question Overview
Path Diagram
Question Demo
Particle Diagram
Cylinder Diagram
AI Answer Creation
AI Generation
YourUniverse
Generation Overview
Generation Demo
Universe Level
Comparison Diagram
Transition Demo
Game Level Overview
Earth Level
Show Demo
Cesium GIS
Earth Level Overview
Earth Level Demo
Summary











Q: WHY XR? IF XR IS TRUE?
2 min | 3D animation | Unreal Engine | April 2024
What remains after the relentless evolution of humanity, nature, and technology? "I see field but no beings. I hear wind but no conversations. I live in ruins but nothing works, until I found this place...”
