Read the interview with Isida Karpuzi and Nikhil Mandrekar and their winning proposal: Virtual Immersive Solutions for Tourism and Architecture in Extended Reality (VISTA-XR)

Isida Karpuzi and Nikhil Mandrekar from The Carbon Games
THE CARBON GAMES is a Lisbon-based immersive tech studio founded by Isida Karpuzi and Nikhil Mandrekar under Mercury Retrograde LDA. Their latest initiative, VISTA-XR, enables live holographic tours and multi-user XR collaboration using SPIRIT’s 5G-enabled infrastructure. Isida Karpuzi is an architect and designer with a Master in Sustainable New Cities and over a decade of international experience in lighting design, residential innovation, and technical design. She has led projects across the US, Europe, and the UAE, and brings expertise in XR spatial design, photorealistic rendering, and heritage storytelling. Nikhil Mandrekar is an economist and entrepreneur with a background in innovation policy and sustainable urban development. He has supported over €500M in startup fundraising through aPitchDeck.com and co-founded The Carbon Games to combine XR, Web3, and real-time data for climate-positive impact. Together, they bridge architecture, immersive media, and systems innovation to reshape how people explore and preserve cultural spaces.
Can you give a brief overview of your winning proposal?
What are its key objectives and innovative aspects?
VISTA-XR (Virtual Immersive Solutions for Tourism and Architecture in Extended Reality) is our winning proposal aimed at transforming how people experience cultural heritage using real-time holographic telepresence and collaborative XR environments. Visitors can explore highly detailed 3D reconstructions of architectural landmarks through immersive headsets like the Meta Quest, guided live by holographic avatars.
Key objectives:
- Enable live holographic tours with cultural experts using SPIRIT’s WebRTC tools and 5G connectivity.
- Facilitate multi-user collaboration within XR environments for shared exploration and storytelling.
- Optimise high-fidelity 3D reconstructions for cultural sites using point cloud streaming and edge computing.
- Enhance accessibility and engagement for users worldwide, even in remote or underserved regions.
Our innovations build on SCIPLANT, our earlier XR urban planning platform, extending it into the tourism sector. Using SPIRIT’s advanced tech stack (multi-source synchronisation, edge rendering, low-latency WebRTC), we bridge immersive storytelling with collaborative interaction.
What motivated you to apply for the SPIRIT Open Call?
As co-founders of a bootstrapped, award-winning startup working at the intersection of sustainability, immersive media, and real-time collaboration, SPIRIT presented a perfect launchpad. We’ve long envisioned making cultural heritage sites more accessible and interactive—especially for people who cannot physically visit them. However, the infrastructure to test low-latency, real-time holographic experiences across continents is complex and costly. SPIRIT provides that missing link—testbeds, mentors, edge-cloud resources, and WebRTC support—allowing us to validate high-impact features that align with European digital sovereignty and cultural preservation goals. More importantly, SPIRIT’s cross-industry collaboration model allows us to exchange ideas with researchers, telcos, and fellow innovators across the EU, accelerating our learning curve and product evolution.
How do you envision this project making an impact?
We believe VISTA-XR can help redefine immersive tourism as not just a passive VR experience, but a real-time, guided, interactive journey that spans borders.
This has real implications for:
- Cultural access equity: Schools, diaspora communities, and individuals with mobility challenges can now “travel” to sites with a local guide.
- Sustainable tourism: Reduces physical footfall on fragile landmarks while maintaining economic opportunities through virtual visits.
- Digital preservation: 3D scans and point clouds can act as dynamic archives for future generations, enhancing research and conservation.
Technically, the project pushes the boundaries of what’s possible with WebRTC, edge streaming, and collaborative XR. We’re also contributing reusable frameworks for other sectors like education and remote training. Ultimately, VISTA-XR aims to demonstrate that cultural storytelling in XR can be both emotionally resonant and technically scalable—and that Europe can lead the way in this evolution.