Parliament House Virtual Tour

UX/UI designer | 2023 | Virtual reality tour UI/UX design | WebVR tour

This project involved designing the interface for a live virtual tour of the South Australia Parliament House, created to help students explore civic spaces remotely through web and VR.

I focused on clear, minimal UI design that supports exploration without distracting from the immersive 360° environment, while ensuring the experience works across desktop, mobile, and Google Cardboard VR.

The project was delivered and launched publicly as part of an educational initiative.

Project context

Designing a web-based VR experience for public education.

This project involved designing the interface for a virtual tour of the Parliament of South Australia, created as an educational resource for school students.

The tour allows students to explore Parliament House remotely through a web-based experience, and can also be viewed in WebVR using Google Cardboard. It is used by teachers in classrooms to support learning about parliamentary spaces and civic processes when in-person visits are not possible.

The experience is now live and publicly available.

The challenge

The experience needed to balance education, accessibility, and immersion. Key constraints included:

  • A young audience (school students)

  • Dense informational content layered over 360° imagery

  • Dual formats: standard web and WebVR

  • The need to keep controls lightweight

The interface had to feel appropriate for a formal civic space, while still being engaging and easy to explore.

My role

  • Designed the UI/UX for the web virtual tour

  • Translated a detailed brief and style guide into a clear interaction model

  • Ensured the interface worked across responsive web and Google Cardboard VR

  • Collaborated closely with stakeholders through iteration

The solution

  • Minimal, immersive controls
    Navigation and UI elements were designed to stay out of the way of the 360° imagery while remaining easy to discover.

  • Layered information system
    Categorised info icons (people, objects, art, general context) with toggle controls, allowing users to explore at their own pace.

  • Flexible infobox designs
    Modular content patterns supporting text, images, video, and external links, designed for scrollable reading without breaking immersion.

  • Cross-platform compatibility
    A single interface system that works for desktop, mobile, and Google Cardboard VR with simplified interactions for VR mode.

*House of Assembly - Art & People info preview initial design

*Info icon toggle menu (responsive)

*Navigation menu (responsive)

Outcome

The virtual tour was launched publicly in May 2024 and now live and used as part of an official educational resource.

Live tour: