Walk into a time machine

Beijing Design Week is allowing visitors this year to explore exhibitions and events in the city's Dashilar area through interactive experiences by applying advanced technology such as virtual reality. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Dashilar, one of the capital's old quarters, became part of Beijing Design Week in 2011. And, as usual, it is using the latest technology to give visitors a unique experience. China Daily reports.

Take out your phone, scan the QR code, and as you carry your phone camera into the hutong, information about exhibitions and events linked to the Beijing Design Week being held in the Dashilar Design Community pop up.

Push the button on your screen, and you can use the "time machine" to wander in the alleys of Dashilar area.

The Beijing Design Week has been an annual event since 2009, while Dashilar, one of the city's most historic quarters, joined as a partner focusing on arts, design and lifestyle in 2011.

This year's theme for the Dashilar Design Community is Design Enriched Dashilar, and it is on through Oct 5.

Maps can be thrown away this year as the interactive visitor guide programs are teaching visitors about the history, present and future of Dashilar.

The three-dimensional live-action navigation program designed by OppenFuture Technologies is being used by the Dashilar Design Community for the first year.

Technologies such as 3D-tracking, computer vision and 3-D reconstruction were used to build this program that combines mixed reality and augmented reality.

"The Dashilar hutong area can get confusing for visitors as there are more than 100 events going on in the area at the same time. So we want to use this program to help them easily find where they want to go," says Jia Meng, the co-founder and chief operating officer of OppenFuture Technologies.