NYU VR Studio

Overview

A ground-up XR curriculum at NYU Tandon IDM built around a single premise: students should ship real, in-front-of-audiences prototypes—not decks. The undergraduate course grew into a graduate VR Studio; adjacent electives (UX for XR, Restorative Spaces) round out the ecosystem.

Context

There was no VR course in the undergraduate emerging-media track when I was brought in. I designed it, taught it, and made it repeatable—with master course shells that keep the syllabus consistent semester to semester, and a studio model that treats critique, iteration, and public demo as core mechanics. The graduate VR Studio followed, extending the same foundations into independent, thesis-scale work.

Approach

1. 01

   Designed the course from outcomes backward: what should a student be able to do, make, and critique by week 14?

2. 02

   Built the syllabus around functional prototypes in Unreal Engine—Blueprint scripting, Enhanced Input, locomotion, interactive level design, and audio-reactive environments—so students leave with shippable work, not decks.

3. 03

   Authored assignments, rubrics, and lecture materials aligned with WCAG and UDL principles from week one.

4. 04

   Built master course shells in Canvas so the syllabus holds up across semesters and can scale to additional sections or instructors.

5. 05

   Produce the end-of-semester showcase at the Brooklyn Navy Yard—students demo working prototypes to industry audiences, connecting classroom work to real-world critique.

Outcomes

• — NYU Tandon IDM's inaugural undergraduate VR course, running each semester since 2022.
• — Graduate VR Studio extending the practice into independent, thesis-scale work.
• — End-of-semester Navy Yard showcases connecting student prototypes to industry audiences.
• — Adjacent electives (UX for XR, Restorative Spaces) built on the same studio model.

Recent Showcase

The Renewal Room · December 11, 2024

Final projects from Virtual Reality: Innovation and Imagination—an undergraduate cohort showing work at NYU’s Renewal Room, a space for mindfulness, relaxation, and restoration. Students responded to two prompts: one on designing VR environments for renewal; one on immersive storytelling for the climate crisis.

A preview of the showcase — full gallery on Drive →

• Mindfulness & Meditation

  Orbit

  by Alec Haidamus

  A guided journey through a mysterious, otherworldly forest. A glowing orb pulses in rhythm with the ambient soundscape and drifts through the trees, inviting the user to follow—an experiment in trusting curiosity and stillness.

  Open in Drive →

• Environmental Conservation

  Maze of Pollution

  by Garman Xu, Vivian Teo, Charlene Chow, and Jeffrey Guo

  A narrative-driven exploration of sound pollution’s impact on marine ecosystems, experienced from the perspective of a young whale trying to find its family through a disrupted ocean.

  Open in Drive →

• Mindfulness & Meditation

  VR Cabin Experience

  by Nowshin Rahman, Jacqueline Wang, Gahyeon Kim, and Hayden Kim

  A multi-sensory escape blending ASMR and dynamic visuals across two levels—a tranquil forest and a cozy cabin—designed to ease the stress of finals week.

  Open on YouTube →