Coffee & Viz - David Hill, College of Design

Introducing the Coffee & Viz seminar series. Held in one of the NCSU Libraries high-tech spaces, Coffee & Viz is a forum in which NC State researchers share their visualization work and discuss topics of interest. All Coffee & Viz programs are free and open to the public and are presented by the NCSU Libraries. Coffee and light refreshments will be available in a nearby space at 9:15 a.m., program begins at 9:30 a.m.

The Great Fire of London destroyed St. Paul’s Cathedral in 1666. Nearly four centuries later, Professors John N. Wall (English) and David Hill (Architecture) have rebuilt it—in virtual space. Wall, a John Donne scholar, wanted to hear the famed poet and dean of the cathedral deliver one of his most famous sermons in order to experience the event “unfolding in real time in the context of an interactive and collaborative occasion.”

The Virtual Paul’s Cross Project (VPCP) uses architectural modeling software and digital acoustic simulations to recreate the visual, spatial, and auditory experience of Donne’s Gunpowder Day sermon delivered on November 5th, 1622. At this Coffee & Viz lecture, Prof. Hill will present the research and modeling process that created the virtual environment of London’s pre-fire St. Paul’s Cathedral.  He will discuss how digital tools can simulate momentous events in spaces that have not existed for hundreds of years.