VVRMA: VR Field Trip to a Computer Music Center

VVRMA is an interactive, audiovisual, fully immersive VR field trip to a virtual reimagining of CCRMA—Stanford University's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics. Envisioned as a "VR interactive museum for computer music", VVRMA is the name of the virtual centerpiece building, meticulously modeled after CCRMA's physical architecture. Within VVRMA, visitors explore various Zones of Interest (ZOIs), which are collections of immersive experiences that thematically mirror various research labs at CCRMA.Asdesign case studies, this paper examines the first two ZOIs: 1) "From Sound to Brain"(a boat ride into the ear canal to learn about the science of hearing), and 2) "The World of Artful Design" (a musical city for exploring interactive audiovisual design and humanistic implications of technology). VVRMA aims to create a playful, expressive, and immersive learning space accessible to a general audience, who are curious about music, technology, and the medium of VR. This paper chronicles the design of VVRMA through the lens of humanistic tool-building, emphasizing programmable audio and VR's immersive affordances.