Delusion through digital editing and modeling

Representation of architecture is outdated. Time for new tools of the PropTech scene

Since the rise of commercial architectural photography in the 1950s, it is common practice to use every means to present buildings at their best.
Digital image editing programs and visualization tools have taken these possibilities to the extreme. Spoiled with perfect photos that are presented to us daily, we are hungry for wow-effects. The images of are so deceptively real and perfected that one wonders if a visit to the physical building can even live up to our expectations.

In addition, photographers can manipulate our perceptions by choosing the detail and the form of the presentation. Take a look at the following picture:

We see a beautiful beach and our brain makes corresponding associations: Untouched nature, lonely beach and idyll. If the image is placed in the appropriate context our perception suddenly changes.

Let’s take another example pointing to another aspect. The form of the representation by certain means such as juxtaposition can be used to make us fall to certain assumptions. Thus a photo can trick our perception in a way that it does what we want it to in communicating design. It can be used to communicate (or not) the context of a building and to mediate the intentions of the creator or the functions of a space.
Furthermore, as I pointed out in the last article on medium forced perspective is often used to make stairs, hallways, windows, facades ect. look taller, wider or bigger than they actually are. Those effects are have been used in photography and film and play with our perception of depth.

Put in a nutshell we can conclude for architecture photography:

This said we can jump to a conclusion. Reality can never be fully represented, as:

This is broken up by developments of the PropTech scene. With new tools currently developing, experiencing and analysing architecture can be faster and more immediate. Rising PropTech companies use big data and machine learning approaches for more transparency, more predictability and better visualization of architecture.

Through the analysis of floor plans, information such as the size of the property and the number of doors, windows or rooms can be detected. The extracted architectural information can improve strategic planning and facilitate cost-calculation and furnishing set-ups. Those new auxiliary means make architecture accessible and immediately tangible. This allows users to perceive spatiality and depth to better estimate sizes and distances, and thus analyse and evaluate architecture.
Tools that enable 360 degree panoramic views and the virtual inspections of spaces through motion detection give a better basis of architectural valuation.
Other PropTech companies use drones to capture 360-degree images of various building heights, giving more information about views from inside or outside the building and the surrounding neighborhoods.
Some companies use current research finding that investigate the direct connections of biofeedback and environmental factors in field studies and in VR laboratory experiments to quantify the virtual experience of people in architectural spaces. In experiments, subjects are exposed to Virtual Reality situations. Feelings triggered by spaces and constellations are tracked. The collected data can help to gain knowledge about the quality of architecture and if applied wisely this can help to improve architecture in general.

All of these tools should help to enable people to ultimately experience a space and equip them with the right keys for interpretation. Then they can add up to minimise the wiggle room for misinterpretation of architecture.

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