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XR-Design: Raus hier!

Raus hier! is an XR experience built in Unity for the Oculus Quest, created together with Rey Alite. We transformed FH Potsdam’s Interface Lab into a dark, oppressive virtual room, precisely mapped to the real space so visitors could move freely without controllers. I was responsible for the 3D environment: all modeling, lighting, and the atmospheric design of the space.

A dim concrete room with a desk, chair and a glowing green CRT monitor.
3.1 Cold, damp, and lit almost entirely by a flickering CRT.
A wider, brighter view of the virtual room with shelving and scattered furniture.
3.4 The original scene was much brighter, which turned out to be exactly the problem.
A digital clock reading 10:00:32 in red on a black panel.
3.2 Five minutes on the clock: when it rang, you had to find and silence it to get out.
A blue-lit vintage vending machine glowing in a dark virtual room.
3.3 Press the button, hear the rumble, pick up the bottle. Completely indestructible, sadly.
An older visitor wearing a VR headset, reaching out in a workshop space.
3.5 At the FHP Werkschau, the most enthusiastic visitors were consistently the least expected.
Two visitors in VR headsets exploring a taped-off area at an exhibition.
3.6 No controllers, taped-off floor, full immersion. From young to old, everyone tried it.

Neither of us had much experience with Unity or 3D tools before. My challenge was building a believable, unsettling atmosphere from scratch — sourcing and adapting 3D models, constructing the room layout, and building the lighting to match the Bioshock-inspired brief: cold, damp, claustrophobic.

Getting the room mapping right was the most technically demanding part. When it works, visitors genuinely feel they are somewhere else. Rey handled all interactive elements, physics, and Oculus deployment.