optical illusions and architecture

optical illusions and architecture

03Oct07

some of these are deliberate, others aren’t.

however each illusion relies on some form of architecture and all create an effect which deserves to be mentioned.

1. this incredible picture was captured by a flickr user in california whilst at work. a fog descended just as the sun set behind the building in shot. the result - one of the spookiest photographs of a building you’ll ever witness.

2. The lichtenstein house is an extremely deceiving illusion created by roy lichtenstein.

as the angle upon which it’s viewed changes, the house shifts in an unusual way by playing with perspective. the best way to try and understand it is by watching the video clip below the photos.

3. the following selection of buildings have the uncanny ability to look 2d simply due to the angle of one of the building’s corners.

the effect is some extremely fragile looking constructions, seemingly impossible to enter for a human being.

unknown building, paris…

bossone research centre, philadelphia…

unknown building…

john hancock tower, boston…

unknown building, hamburg

4. the stairway to nowhere.

an art exhibit in munich, this stairway reminds me of m.c.escher and looks just as mental from the side.

5. not strictly an illusion but a great photo of the olympic stadium in montreal.

so who copied who?

6. the next illusions were created by swiss artist felice varini and are really fucking clever. the required result can only be viewed from one place in the room and the illusion is created using a projected image which is then painted onto the relevant surfaces.

here’s an example on film…

7. one of the classic optical illusions has bizarrely been applied to the building shown below.

in case you’re unaware of the trick, all of the orange lines are parallel.

8. this is the painted floor of sunshine city in tokyo.

it just illustrates the power of shading. one of the simplest illusions to create but also one of the most effective.

9. a car park in seattle.

are the levels of the car park horizontal or sloping?