Manuel Riberio, an architect from Münster with Portuguese roots, took visitors to the Places Festival on a journey through an alternative version of Bochumer Straße in his virtual reality application. He not only created this virtual image of Bochumer Straße using a computer, but also used Gaussian splatting technology to create a 3D version of the district with the help of real video recordings.

The VR version of “Bochumer”, as the locals call it, exudes a Mediterranean flair with its lime-colored houses to the left and right of the roadway, just as the artist knows it from his own homeland and imagines the home of the first generation of immigrants. His artwork was inspired by the highly dynamic nature of the neighborhood, the simultaneous social difficulties and the very diverse composition of the residents.

Where the streetcar tracks normally run, a blue river meanders down the street – users can follow it. On some buildings, they will find interactive elements that actually invite them to play a little game in virtual reality. This gives visitors the opportunity to “pull the street to the left”, so to speak. The backyards move to the street, the facades recede – and fictional scenes can then be explored immersively in VR in the courtyards of Bochumer Straße.

Manuel Riberio, an architect from Münster with Portuguese roots, took visitors to the Places Festival on a journey through an alternative version of Bochumer Straße in his virtual reality application. He not only created this virtual image of Bochumer Straße using a computer, but also used Gaussian splatting technology to create a 3D version of the district with the help of real video recordings.

The VR version of “Bochumer”, as the locals call it, exudes a Mediterranean flair with its lime-colored houses to the left and right of the roadway, just as the artist knows it from his own homeland and imagines the home of the first generation of immigrants. His artwork was inspired by the highly dynamic nature of the neighborhood, the simultaneous social difficulties and the very diverse composition of the residents.

Where the streetcar tracks normally run, a blue river meanders down the street – users can follow it. On some buildings, they will find interactive elements that actually invite them to play a little game in virtual reality. This gives visitors the opportunity to “pull the street to the left”, so to speak. The backyards move to the street, the facades recede – and fictional scenes can then be explored immersively in VR in the courtyards of Bochumer Straße.