1# How Architecture Visualisation Tricks Our Perception
Today, I’ll investigate the question of what happens to our brain leading to delusional perception of Architecture. Across history, architects have used the concept of the so-called forced perspective to achieve specific spatial effects with their designed spaces or buildings. The usage of this sort of visual illusion in architectural construction and representation has severe consequences on how we perceive and evaluate architecture today.
The trick of forced perspective — together with other mechanisms like digital post-production — is purposely used by designers, commercial architecture photographers and other real estate agents to make us believe that things are different to what they actually are. Should this not worry planners, investors, buyers, users and occupiers and make us search for new mediums of architectural representation and analysis?
But first things first: Let’s start with a concrete example of how forced perspective is applied in architecture (photography):
Everyone knows the narrow Flatiron building, which is considered one of the first skyscrapers in New York City. The Beaux-Arts style building is based on the concept of a classical Greek column — its facade is divided into a base, shaft and capital. Anyone who has seen a picture of it or looked at it from a specific angle must have thought of how incredibly thin and tall this building looks. In this image the height and narrowness of the building is enhanced by the forced angle that it was taken from.
This phenomenon can easily be explained physically: by moving objects further into the foreground or background of a lens (be it a human, camera or photographic one), it makes them appear farther away, closer, larger or smaller than they actually are. This optical illusion plays with natural depth perception.
Let’s take a closer look: How do we actually perceive the size of objects?
Two aspects are important for this: angular size and context cues. When things have the same angular size, our brain thinks that the objects are the same size as the context defines them. If you want one element to look smaller than the other, you put it further in the back. Let’s illustrate this with a graphic by Andy Rundquist.
Only through the reference object (blue square), the red object is perceived as smaller, with the same distance of the lens.
Forced Perspective in Architecture
The special feature in the field of architecture is the use of optical illusions in order to make buildings appear different from what they actually are. In ancient Greece an ideal building was seen as a whole object, with parts that fit perfectly. Today, this approach is still valid. Architects see buildings as a whole — and keep the human eye as experiencing factor in their mind. Elements such as windows, doors and the facade can never be considered in isolation, but how they work together in their overall arrangement. This task becomes all the more complex the bigger buildings are. If a person stands directly at the foot of a building, they will perceive it differently than if they look at it from far away. Forced perspective can be used to make buildings and objects look taller than they actually are, they can manipulate perceived distance between objects. In many cases architects use forced perspective as a means due to the lack of physical space.
It’s time for some more examples.
Parthenon
Greek and Romans wanted to achieve certain architectural effects with temples. Primarily the goal in antiquity was to reflect ideal forms of nature, for example by following the concept of Golden proportions and creating symmetrical structures. They quickly understood that buildings either are perfect, or look exactly perfect.
The Parthenon, an ancient Greek temple in Athens, incorporates the concept of forced perspective. Greek builders have sought to counteract the visual deception by proportioning. The pillars in the foreground of the temple should look just as big and evenly spaced apart as at the inside of the temple. Objects farther away were enlarged so that they matched the objects around them. Thus the columns in the inner and the back part of the building were made thicker than the front ones, also to ensure the holding structures of the building. Inside the temple, the columns were set farther apart than in the middle part of the temple, to make all columns appear evenly spaced and the same size. Architects adjusted proportions so that the temple would appear correct when viewed a distance six times the height of a column. This precise viewing distance related the viewer to the architecture and made him part of it.
Palazzo Spada
The 17th-century Palazzo Spada, designed by Francesco Borromini, also uses the medium of forced perspective. In order to comply with the Classical Ideal of harmony of his time (based on mathematical calculations), the portico was designed to look like a standard Italian corridor — 99 feet long and with a life-sized statue at its end.
In reality, however, the architect had not that much space available — the corridor was only 26 feet long. Therefore, he used visual illusion in equipping the corridor with decreasing columns, at optically rising floor, narrowly standing columns and a kid sized statue at the end of the the corridor. Achieving this level of illusion required precise mathematical calculations.
Potemkin Stairs
With the Potemkin Stairs in Odessa a similar trick was applied to create a perspective effect: The staircase was designed much wider at the top 21.7m than at the bottom 13.4m. Standing at the foot of the stairs, the staircase looks as if was much longer and seems to be endless due to the short height of the entire staircase. This calculated perceptual distortion underlines the effect that the staircases seem to end in the sky.
Viewed from above, the staircase looks the same width over its entire length, which makes the urban backdrop at the foot of the staircase look mightier.
Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland
The method has perfected by the creators of the Disneyland. The Sleeping Beauty Castle is only 23 meters high, but looks majestically large for each visitor. To do this, the Disneyland’s engineers team placed large bricks at eye level and then lowered the size of the bricks with each successive story, so that the smallest bricks are on top of the castle look much taller than it is. This effect is underlined by the fact that with each level the window seems to be taller than in reality.
You see how easy it is to cheat with forced perspective. Do you know more examples where forced perspective is used? Comment below!
Stay tuned for the next article where I will elaborate the issues of architectural representations by photography, consequences for real estate processes and possible solutions for the future.
If you are interested in Architecture Analysis check out other articles of our new series “Architecture–Waking the Sleeping Giant”.
