Augusta Preparatory Day School

Digital Landscape Lab

Augusta Preparatory Day School, an independent college preparatory school in Augusta, Georgia, is creating a space which will provide an immersive, interactive, and engaging learning experience for students through the use of augmented, virtual and extended reality or “XR”. The Digital Landscape Lab is located in the W. Rodger Giles Institute for Inquiry, which will open for classes in January 2024.

This new building is a unique future-facing sciences and engineering building that prepares students for the Fourth Industrial Revolution and will allow students to work with artificial intelligence, automation, 3D printing, big data analytics and more. The Giles Institute is designed with flexible spaces for science, robotics, engineering, programming, and cybersecurity and shared environments for cross-curricular activities. The Digital Landscape Lab is at the heart of the building. Available for use by students of all ages, the lab will feature an Elumenati GeoDome Panorama, providing an immersive projection experience which doesn’t require headsets. In addition to the immersive projection experience, the lab will be equipped with a classroom set of VR headsets which can be used to explore VR content individually or in collaborative teacher-led VR experiences. 360 cameras, as well as dedicated workstations, will allow students to create their own 360 content, which can be used with the Elumenati GeoDome Panorama.

The room itself is designed to enhance the fully immersive experience; it has no windows and relies on interior lighting. Two walls, which are uninterrupted by doorways or other obstacles, meet at a corner and will provide a backdrop for the GeoDome Panorama. The other two walls will include entrances, as well as computer stations and suitable storage for VR headsets and 360 cameras. Soft flooring will provide safety for headset users as well as comfort for all learners. A large open floor plan permits ample space for multiple users, as well as an arena for augmented reality and other projects. Neutral gray walls will ensure that the walls are not reflecting excessive light from the projectors, while still facilitating a comfortable work space.

This space will be a fully interdisciplinary learning environment. Our goal is to establish a lab in which students can access what would otherwise be unreachable and envision the possibilities of what can be. There are few limits to what they may create or learn:

- terrestrial and extraterrestrial ecosystems;

- cultural and geographic sites around the globe;

- faces and voices of distant peoples;

- engineering mechanics and physical laws;

- immersive storytelling in literary settings;

- and student-crafted virtual expressions of artistic, scientific, and mechanical creativity.

Augusta Prep is deeply grateful to the E.E. Ford Foundation for its support of our Digital Landscape Lab through a Challenge Grant and to our generous donors who matched the gift.

To view photos and read more information, please visit the Giles Institute page on Augusta Prep’s website.