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M. W˛ asowicz
and their environment. This reasoning integrally joins biotic organisms and nonbiotic elements into a given setting, and people perceive the environment and its
various elements from within this environment. Their outlook of the world derives
from territorial knowledge along with particular and prompt experience. This leads
them to develop a sense of belonging and identity in relation to their surroundings,
which sense constitutes a component of widely understood sustainability. People
empirically develop connections with their environments through the senses over
their intellectual understanding and longitudinal processes of emotional adaptations
to the surroundings, established through natural selection during human evolution
[1].
To understand relationships between people and their environments, we should
determine the association between the physical features of a given setting (e.g.,
urban landscape or interior space) and human psychological responses. To investigate this topic, we can use digital tools. Such devices are used to evaluate the
resemblance between physical architecture and its depiction in virtual reality (VR),
with the data obtained that way being used to measure the analogy between the
real and the virtual experience. This paper aims to discuss the boundaries of digital
representation of architecture, and particularly the criteria of effective visualization
in the broad context of human perception. The first part of this paper collates similarities and differences between how the real-life object and the corresponding virtual
architecture are perceived. The second part discusses the limitations of sensory simulation in digital technologies, which will help us recognize limitations in generating
the sensation of presence in an architectural space.
Virtual reality can be defined as “the representation and simultaneous perception
of reality and its physical attributes in an interactive computer-generated virtual environment.” [2] Recent research shows a wide range of studies in which VR was applied
as a research technique, [3–5] with many applications in the fields of architecture, civil
engineering, and environmental planning in terms of visualizing, analyzing, collaboratively designing and redeveloping the built environment. VR has been commonly
discussed in the context of building evaluation, examining the experiences of future or
current building users, experimenting with spatial cognition, introducing into education, applying in domain-specific expertise, and approaching building design and
development through multidisciplinary collaboration based on Building Information
Modeling (BIM).
In building evaluation, simulations performed on a digital model can help identify inconsistencies and errors before the construction stage, thereby eliminating
the necessity of readjustments and rebuilds during the construction or after it. VR
thus helps simulate how future users of a building can view and understand it
before its actual construction. It can also simulate how modernizations affect the
users’ behavior: The related changes in the building are simulated, and the adjusted
(still virtual) building is evaluated once more, and additional modernizations can
be applied—this process can be repeated any number of times. Data provided from
designing and test VR environments can help improve the usability of buildings
[5] and enhance their accessibility to people with disabilities or elderly [6]. VR,
however, can be implemented also outside of professional architectural practice. It
M. W˛ asowicz
and their environment. This reasoning integrally joins biotic organisms and nonbiotic elements into a given setting, and people perceive the environment and its
various elements from within this environment. Their outlook of the world derives
from territorial knowledge along with particular and prompt experience. This leads
them to develop a sense of belonging and identity in relation to their surroundings,
which sense constitutes a component of widely understood sustainability. People
empirically develop connections with their environments through the senses over
their intellectual understanding and longitudinal processes of emotional adaptations
to the surroundings, established through natural selection during human evolution
[1].
To understand relationships between people and their environments, we should
determine the association between the physical features of a given setting (e.g.,
urban landscape or interior space) and human psychological responses. To investigate this topic, we can use digital tools. Such devices are used to evaluate the
resemblance between physical architecture and its depiction in virtual reality (VR),
with the data obtained that way being used to measure the analogy between the
real and the virtual experience. This paper aims to discuss the boundaries of digital
representation of architecture, and particularly the criteria of effective visualization
in the broad context of human perception. The first part of this paper collates similarities and differences between how the real-life object and the corresponding virtual
architecture are perceived. The second part discusses the limitations of sensory simulation in digital technologies, which will help us recognize limitations in generating
the sensation of presence in an architectural space.
Virtual reality can be defined as “the representation and simultaneous perception
of reality and its physical attributes in an interactive computer-generated virtual environment.” [2] Recent research shows a wide range of studies in which VR was applied
as a research technique, [3–5] with many applications in the fields of architecture, civil
engineering, and environmental planning in terms of visualizing, analyzing, collaboratively designing and redeveloping the built environment. VR has been commonly
discussed in the context of building evaluation, examining the experiences of future or
current building users, experimenting with spatial cognition, introducing into education, applying in domain-specific expertise, and approaching building design and
development through multidisciplinary collaboration based on Building Information
Modeling (BIM).
In building evaluation, simulations performed on a digital model can help identify inconsistencies and errors before the construction stage, thereby eliminating
the necessity of readjustments and rebuilds during the construction or after it. VR
thus helps simulate how future users of a building can view and understand it
before its actual construction. It can also simulate how modernizations affect the
users’ behavior: The related changes in the building are simulated, and the adjusted
(still virtual) building is evaluated once more, and additional modernizations can
be applied—this process can be repeated any number of times. Data provided from
designing and test VR environments can help improve the usability of buildings
[5] and enhance their accessibility to people with disabilities or elderly [6]. VR,
however, can be implemented also outside of professional architectural practice. It