2013 Hay Award Team Presentation: Vision Science for Dynamic Architecture

Using a pair of industrial robots carrying a projector and a large screen, the researchers created the conditions for probing the limits of visual perception on the scale relevant to architectural design. For this initial study, the researchers concentrated on several paradoxical cases, such as the diminished ability to pick visual information as its source approaches the observer, and the abrupt change in visibility following only a slight change in the viewing distance. They created a versatile measurement platform for mapping the spatial and temporal boundaries of perception in large spaces, for the forthcoming case studies in architectural and urban design, and for experiments in virtual architecture, mixed reality, and immersive cinema. This study makes a case for the transition from research of representations of space to research of space that contains representations.