At Passage, we’re always pushing the boundaries of virtual experiences, and our latest project is a testament to that.
We recently built our biggest virtual world to date—a life-sized digital replica of the MIT campus complete with the Boston skyline in Unreal Engine 5.
Here’s how we partnered with MIT Reality Hack to bring the iconic university campus into Passage and upgrade the hackathon experience.
The Spark of an Idea
This idea came out of a conversation we had with Shirly from Magic Leap in Passage.
As we explored the platform, she quickly saw its potential to be part of MIT’s upcoming experiential hackathon, Reality Hack.
With a vision to extend the MIT campus virtually, she connected us with the MIT team. After a few test runs inside Passage, it became clear that we could create something powerful—an immersive, explorable MIT environment that would bring the hackathon to participants worldwide.
From Concept to Reality
With only a few months before the hackathon, we got to work. Our first step was gathering real-world data to form the foundation of our virtual MIT campus. Using OpenStreetMap and Google’s Map Tiles API, we extracted detailed spatial data, including the Boston skyline, to give our world a realistic starting point.
From there, we moved into 3D modeling. We were able to start with Magic Leap scans made on-site for scale and placement reference, as well as lots of photo and video references.
We began sculpting the campus in Blender, refining each structure and layout before importing everything into Unreal Engine. This is where the magic happened.
Unreal Engine 5’s powerful rendering capabilities allowed us to create a hyper-realistic, fully explorable environment that captured the essence of MIT’s real-world campus, with extra details like foliage, lighting, and animations.
Once the campus environment was built, integrating it into Passage was seamless. With our custom plugin, we uploaded the project, instantly making the virtual MIT campus accessible through the Passage interface.
1-Click Access
Reality Hack was the first event to use some of our latest easy-access features for bringing groups into Passage. This allowed hackathon participants to step into the digital twin of MIT campus from their browser with just a click—no special hardware or downloads required.
For Reality Hack attendees, the virtual world provided an accessible way to familiarize themselves with MIT’s 7.3 million-square-foot campus before arriving in person, allowing them to navigate key hackathon locations and explore the campus map.
This not only enhanced the experience for hackers, but also allowed their friends and family to get in on the action from anywhere in the world.
The Future of Virtual Spaces
This project is just the beginning of what’s possible when you bring real-world locations into Passage.
We’re looking to expand the virtual MIT campus, adding more buildings and details. Imagine a world where students can attend MIT classes remotely, or prospective students can tour campus from the comfort of their own home!
And it doesn’t stop with MIT. Passage has the potential to bring any space from around the world into a stunning, interactive virtual environment. The question is: where should we go next? If you have a space in mind that deserves a digital replica, let’s build it together!
In the meantime, we meet every Thursday in Passage to test the latest worlds and features, so hop into our Discord and join the waitlist!
