BME To Open a New Chapter in the History of Thesis Defenses

On 19 June, the Faculty of Architecture at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME) will host a master’s thesis defense that is exceptional even by international standards. Wearing virtual reality headsets, members of the examination committee will enter a digital world created by the student in order to examine the results of her research.

The thesis was prepared by Kinga Kocsis (pictured), under the supervision of Gábor Domokos, Professor at BME and co-inventor of the Gömböc and the Bille; Ferenc Répás, Ybl Prize-winning architect and Professor at BME; and Lajos Hartvig, co-founder of the Bánáti & Hartvig Architecture Studio.

Entitled The Soft Cube, the thesis is inspired by soft cells, discovered by researchers at BME and the University of Oxford. The discovery was reported by Nature, featured on the cover of Scientific American, and even reached the International Space Station through an experiment conducted by Tibor Kapu. Building on a mathematical result that establishes a connection between soft cells and the Rubik’s Cube, the thesis addresses a striking architectural design challenge and translates it into virtual reality with the aid of artificial intelligence.

The use of virtual reality as the setting for the defense is so novel that, despite the time differences, 

professors from the California College of the Arts, the Mathematical Institute of the University of Oxford, National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan, and the Pratt Institute in New York will follow the event live online.

The initiative also demonstrates how VR may transform not only entertainment, education, and industry, but scientific communication as well.

Date: 19 June, 2:00 p.m.
Venue: BME Department of Graphics, Form and Design, Room IV, Building K, 3rd Floor 

The livestream of the defense will be available here.

Rector’s Office, Communications Directorate