The

Challenge

of a Free 

Architecture


An inquiry into the solutions the architectural profession 
could offer to the human, psychological implications of the 
architecture and environments created with technologies 
which may result from current developments in immersive, 
interactive computer simulations, or Virtual Reality.
























David Matthew Jones, BSc.

A Special Subject Report submitted in partial fulfilment of 
the Degree of Bachelor of Architecture in the
University of Wales College of Cardiff


Contents
Summary	2
Chapter One:
Introduction			4
		1.0	Introduction		5
		1.1	Aims of the Study	5
		1.2	Methodology	5
			1.2.1	Literature Search Criteria	6
			1.2.2	Acknowledgements	6
			1.2.3	A note on gender	6
Chapter Two:
Virtual Reality: A survey of enabling technology	7
		2.0	Differing Definitions of Virtual Reality	8
		2.1	The technology of transparency	8
		2.2	Components of a VR system	9
		2.3	Virtual beginnings	10
		2.4	The state of the art	11
Chapter Three:
Human Needs and Abilities		14
		3.0	Human Perception of environment	15
		3.1	Sensory Processes	15
		3.2	Human Needs	16
			3.2.1	A need for reality?	17
			3.2.2	Human needs from the built 
				environment and Maslow's 
			 	humanistic theories	18
		3.3	Human discriminatory abilities
			in unusual environments	19
			3.3.1	Scales and models	19
			3.3.2	Problems of scale	20
		3.4	Human navigational abilities
			in unusual environments	21
			3.4.1	This way up	21
			3.4.2	Navigational abilities	22
			3.4.3	Navigation in built
				environments: physical or
				virtual	23
		3.5	Isolation.	23
Chapter Four:
Architecture and Virtual Reality		24
		4.0	The response of architecture	25
		4.1	Architecture as information	25
			4.1.1	A goal-orientated
				perception of architecture	25
			4.1.2	'Commoditas'	25
		4.2	Information as architecture	26
			4.2.1	The information environment	26
		4.3	Design: the ordering of information	27
			4.3.1	The role of the architect	28
		4.4	The design challenges of VR	28
			4.4.1	Providing for human needs	28
			4.4.2	Navigation in cyberspace	29
			4.4.3	Scale and simulation	29
			4.4.4	The second aesthetic	31
Chapter Five:
Conclusion		33
Appendix		36
Bibliography & Sources	50



Summary


The Challenge of a Free Architecture:


Aims of the study.

1)	Survey the current state of the art in
	Virtual Reality technology.

1)	Establish the relevance of Virtual Reality to the 
	architectural profession.

2)	Establish whether architects can offer solutions to 
	provide for  the human psychological
	needs of VR users.


Conclusion of the study.

Establish the relevance of Virtual Reality to the architectural 
profession.

Quite apart from the ways in which Virtual Reality technology is 
currently being explored in the architects office to give insights into 
the user's perception of projected 'real' buildings, in architectural 
walkthroughs etc., the emergent information society, and it's needs in 
the use of widespread virtual realities can benefit from the attention 
of the architect's skills

Members of architectural profession could establish a relevant, if not 
pre-eminent position in the virtual reality design team, by focussing 
on their already developed skills involving the structured ordering of 
information and spaces, as argued in sections 4.1 to 4.3.

Establish whether architects can offer solutions to provide for  the 
human psychological needs of VR users.

Architects can address both the higher and lower psychological needs 
of users, as decribed by Maslow's theories (see 3.2.2) in their 
architecture. Shelter, protection, navigational security at the lowest 
level of the hieracy, and order, formal harmony, symmetry at the 
higher aesthetic levels.

In VR, architects can again transpose the skills they have learnt to 
provide such satisfaction in the physical.

The new opportunites that Cyberspace could present, such as scale-
independence, and multi-dimensionality; must be approached 
carefully, but could also be seen to be compatible with the mind-set 
and skills of an architect. The transition to a designer of the second 
aesthetic (see 4.4.4) is an important one for both the future of 
profession and the future of the medium; and one that could have 
positive feedback into  its other fields.



The

Challenge

of a Free 

Architecture


"Psychology is the physics of VR.
Our body is our interface.
Knowledge is in experience.
Data is in the environment.
Scale and Time are explorable dimensions.
One experience is worth a trillion bits.
Realism is not necessary." 


One:

Introduction


1.0 Introduction

The context of the study.

Paper, printing press, camera, telephone, cinema, 
television, and computer.

The enabling technologies of communication have, 
throughout history changed in general terms, the way 
people interact with each other and the world; and in more 
specific terms, the roles that people play. Professions have 
been created and lost with each jump of progress, from the 
scroll and the scribe, to satellite news linked reporters.

Some professions have mutated to accommodate, and even 
control new media.

The newest medium for the creation and communication of 
ideas and information is  'Virtual Reality' or VR. Simply 
put, a 'Virtual Reality' is a computer-generated, interactive 
environment of sensory immersion. The definition of VR is 
explored later in this work. It promises to dominate and 
transform the way people work and play.

1.1	Aims of the study.

My chosen profession is that of architecture, and with this 
work, I aim to discover the preparations necessary for this 
profession to have a relevance in a world where VR 
technology is likely to be as wide-spread in its use, as 
television technology has been in the last half of this 
century, and to conclude whether the profession can 
achieve such a transition, and speculate on the implications 
for the 'built' ('experienced' may be a better term) 
environment.

1.2	Methodology

This study uses the results of a literature search into the 
subject areas relevant to its aims as listed in 1.2.1., 
supplemented with interviews with prominent practitioners 
of both architecture and computing technology.

The  study into psychological aspects of the subject , due 
to the size of the body of psychological knowledge, has its 
focus on those areas which I have assumed may be of 
direct relevance to the aims of the dissertation.

This work, due to the nascent quality of the area it 
explores, seeks to be no more than an informed speculation 
on the body of knowledge available at the present time, but 
none-the-less as well argued and scholarly speculation as I 
can offer the reader.

1.2.1		Literature search criteria

The libraries of University of Wales College Cardiff were 
searched using the following subject classes: Architecture, 
cyberspace; Architectural Psychology, perception of space; 
Computing, cyberspace, systems, virtual reality; 
Psychology, perception, human needs.

1.2.2.	Acknowledgements

I thank the following for their help and guidance: Nigel 
Vaughan, Sylvia Harris, Jeff Johns of WSA; Roy Ruddle, 
Carol Trudel, of UWCC; Neil Spiller, Kevin Williams, Ian 
Ritchie; Michael Benedikt, Lisa Leushauser and various 
other citizens of the InterNet.

1.2.3		A note on gender...
I must state that in the work, the male pronoun is used. It 
is used consistantly and for expediency, and with no sexist 
intent.


Two:

Virtual 
Reality:

A survey of 
enabling 
technolog


2.0	Differing definitions of Virtual Reality

Virtual reality or VR as it often abbreviated, is a very 
evocative 'umbrella' term enveloping many different 
technologies. Generally, virtual reality technology is that 
which seeks to interface computer information and human 
perception at an unprecedented level of interaction and 
immersion.

Virtual Reality itself, is a contentious term. Definitions of 
where or what it is (or they are...) range from that of John 
Perry Barlow:

"The place you are when you're on the phone" 

to the more specific:

"...an immersive, interactive experience generated 
by a computer" 

To an extent, 'virtual reality' is commonplace, and has been 
for centuries. If we define VR as a projection of 
consciousness into a world of information, then we enter it 
when we interpret a diagram or a chart, a work of art or a 
scientific essay. The author in each, has dreamed, 
imagined, thought in an unlimited medium: that of the 
human imagination; and then had to articulate this in a 
limited medium of some form: language, graphics, 
sculpture etc. The reader / viewer / listener has to interpret 
this for themselves, and the amount they understand of the 
author's intention is directly affected by the limitations of 
their chosen media. There is a barrier between the two 
parties, however well the author has used their medium.

The search for a 'transparent' medium, with the least 
impediment to understanding, has always been enmeshed 
with technology. From Guttenburg to Logie-Baird to 
Turing, increasing technological sophistication has 
gradually increased the lucid dissemination of ideas and 
information.

2.1 The Technology of Transparency.

In the subset of computer technology, (itself a major 
development within the progression described above) there 
is a microcosm of this breaking down of the interaction 
barrier. The potential and power of the computer to handle 
and process information has accelerated alongside its ease 
of use. Input and output devices, along with suitable 
operating systems have progressed from the alien to the 
intuitive.

The alien: punched card input and teletype printer output, 
with processing time on the computer limited and shared 
with other users, possibly having to rely upon the computer 
technicians necessary to the running of the room-sized 
mainframe machines of the sixties and early seventies to 
interpret, code, run and de-code your program. Today, 
computers are literally personal, with mouse-driven 
graphical interfaces making them tools that focus on an 
information-manipulating end rather than a means to that 
end: the intuitive.

2.2 Components of a VR system

Virtual Reality systems comprise of three main 
components: input systems, with which to interact within 
VR, Output systems, to simulate a virtual environment, and 
a powerful computer to construct and co-ordinate this 
environment.

Within VR, there can be said to be two approaches:

total interaction, but limited immersion: the virtual 
world is interacted with via a high-resolution screen: 
the user is still subject to influence and sensory input 
from the 'real world'.

This is the most cheapest and most common form of VR: 
encompassing CAD and even graphical working 
environments such as Microsoft Windows.

total interaction, total immersion: where the user is 
isolated from the outside world translated into the 
simulated environment, through sophisticated head 
mounted displays and body-mounted input devices 
which respond to the movements of the user.

The difference between these two approaches will explored 
subsequently. The technology of the central co-ordinating 
processor for both however are similar. They differ in the 
input and output methods used.

The crucial issue of immersion is dependent on display 
systems which have their origins, in common with most VR 
technology  in military research.



2.3 Virtual Beginnings.

While throughout the late sixties and early seventies, the 
military simulator had lead most developments in 
interactive computer graphics, they generally were images 
projected upon screens mounted outside a mock-up 
cockpit. This, again was one more barrier to realism. 
Experiments by computer graphics pioneers such as Ivan 
Sutherland at the University of Utah, USA included the use 
of head mounted displays. The military realised that these 
could provide extra realism, and eliminate the bulky 
projection systems. Head-Mounted displays with sensors to 
detect head movement and alter the view point simulated 
by the computer were then developed to further heighten 
realism and therefore the effectiveness of training.

Chemists and computer scientists at the University of 
North Carolina, USA, were concurrently investigating 
ways to simulate natural processes that had to be 
understood, but could never be experienced by humans.

Ivan Sutherland had predicted as much half a decade 
earlier:

"We live in a physical world whose properties we 
have come to know well through long familiarity. We 
sense an involvement with this physical world which 
gives us the ability to predict its properties well. 
For, example, we can predict where objects will fall, 
how well-known shapes look from other angles, and 
how much force is required to push objects against 
friction. We lack corresponding familiarity with the 
forces on charged particles, forces in non-uniform 
fields, the effects of non-projective geometric 
transformations, and high-inertia, low-friction 
motion. A display connected to a digital computer 
gives us a chance to gain familiarity with concepts 
not realisable in the physical world." 

The University of North Carolina research of the early 
1970's used an adapted robotic arm manipulator, of the 
type used to handle dangerous substances, to simulate 
physical force feedback from the operator's virtual 
interactions as calculated by a computer. For instance, they 
simulated the docking of molecules to form complex drugs. 
The mutual repulsion of the molecules could be felt by the 
operator while he/she tried to move them into their correct 
relationship. Although advanced in their technology for 
providing a tactile simulation, they were severely limited by 
the computer and display technology available at the time; 
until the early 1980's, when the experiment was 
successfully concluded - and the experience could then in 
no way be described as immersive.

By the mid 1980's the component parts of what is 
recognised as a virtual reality system were available, albeit 
not as an integrated whole. The work of NASA's Ames 
laboratory from 1981 onwards, was to change this. They 
pioneered the combination of Display, Input, and 
Processing which is exploited by most current commercial 
and research VR systems. Theirs was the first immersive, 
relatively low-cost, VR system. For display they used a 
lightweight head-mounted display, constructed from a 
cannibalised pair of commercial miniature television 
screens, giving stereoscopic display to the user, and 
therefore simulating a three-dimensional visual 
environment. For input, a 'Data glove', wired with 
movement detection sensors is worn by the VR user, gave 
intuitive control over movement in VR, by pointing at 
simulated objects, manipulating objects, etc. 

Surprisingly, NASA had given the VR research group a 
very small budget to carry out their ground-breaking work. 

"Probably the most important thing NASA achieved 
was demonstrating that all this was possible by 
assembling an assortment of commercially available 
technologies that weren't a fortune to acquire or 
develop. Pandora's box had been sitting around for 
a while - others had peeked into it, but NASA threw 
it wide open." 

2.4 The State of the Art.

The demands put upon a computer system to simulate 
reality are varied and great. The human brain's great 
reliance on vision to supply information on it's 
environment, means that the visual performance of any VR 
system is crucial to it's 'realism'.

There are two main factors which are important for the 
fidelity of a virtual reality:

o	The quality of sensory input to the participant

o	The response speed of the system to interaction by the 
particpant. 

Firstly, output from a display must seem three-dimensional: 
we receive stereo input from our eyes, the difference 
between each the brain uses to perceive depth & distance. 
Head-mounted VR displays use twin video screen to 
generate a stereoscopic view.

How convincing these images are relies then on the power 
of the computer system to calculate and render realistic 
scenes fast enough.

The best currently available VR display gives a resolution 
of 300 000 colour picture elements or pixels. The human 
eye has approximately 15 million light-sensitive receptors. 
Therefore, all other things being equal,  the display has 
only a fiftieth of the detail necessary to be indistinguishable 
from reality at the moment. 

The next demand to be satisfied is the speed with which the 
processor can update the visual image  in reaction to the 
user input (movement, gesture etc.)

To sense this input, for instance, head movement to look at 
another part of the virtual scene, the headset employs 
motion sensors. This information is sent to the central 
processor which must then recalculate the perceived view 
and re-display it. Although this only takes a time-span in 
the order of hundreds of milliseconds, it can be enough of a 
delay to destroy a sense of realism, and in the worst cases, 
cause the user motion sickness due to the brain's inability 
to reconcile the visual input it is receiving to its notion of 
bodily movement and balance.

"Only...delays below 10 milliseconds fall within the 
'perceptual threshold' - the time the brain takes to 
become aware that an event has occurred. The best 
of present systems offer delays of between 60 and 70 
milliseconds." 

Coupled with this, is the need to refresh the display often 
enough to give the impression of continuous movement 
from a succession of still images, as in cinema. the 'frame-
rate' must be high enough to sustain 'persistence of vision'. 

"If a new image is presented quickly enough the eye 
will not perceive the interval between them...but if 
this happens at too slow a rate the eye perceives the 
intervals as flicker...At about 50 blackouts [intervals 
between frames] per second, flicker disappears." 

"VR frame rates vary from about 10 frames per 
second to 60 frames per second, depending on the 
computers power" 

Finally, apart from the hardware restrictions on visual 
detail, there is the computational restriction. Usually, the 
graphic representations of objects in VR are built up from 
polygons, for instance a sphere would be a faceted 
construct with a surface of many polygons. the more 
polygons used, the more 'realistic' the appearance of the 
object will be. Each vertex co-ordinate of the polygon must 
be kept track of by the computer and translated 
accordingly to the events in the simulated environment 
(e.g. reaction to a user's movement). As a measure of the 
computers ability to simulate a complex environment, the 
number of polygons per second (pps) is used.

Current technology can supply worlds of approximately 20 
000 pps to each eye, with researchers predict 60 000 pps as 
imminent. 

And while the number of polygons per second displayed 
may not be the only factor essential for perceptual fidelity, 
to quote American computer graphic scientist, A.R. Smith:

"Reality is 80 million polygons per second." 


Three:

Human needs
and abilitie


3.0	Human perception of environment: issues 
	relevant to Virtual Reality and architects

3.1	Sensory Processes

Human sensory processes are the basis of human 
perception, and therefore the interface between the brain 
and its environment.

The psychologist J.J. Gibson described two distinct classes 
of sensory input , these being Exteroception: relating to 
the five 'classical' senses of sight, hearing, smell, touch and 
taste, and proprioception, relating to bodily feedback due 
to movement or position: kinaesthetic sense.

When forming a perception of environment, the 
information sensed, regardless of the sense involved is fed 
to the brain.

"In the first place, a stimulus constituting some 
temporal or spatial change, whether 
electromagnetic, mechanical or chemical energy 
impinges upon the sense receptor that is specifically 
adapted to detect it. At the receptor, the energy 
changes are transduced or encoded into neural 
impulses in such a way as to preserve the 
information concerning the stimulus event. The 
sensory message embodied in the neural code is 
transmitted via a series of way stations to the higher 
levels of the central nervous system whereupon it is 
decoded to form a basis of  our conscious awareness 
of the stimulus event." 

So, as has been described in chapter two, progressive 
improvements in VR technology could sufficiently satisfy 
the process described above.

"...true VR will be available when advanced 
computers are devoted to real time processing of 
changes in visual, tactile and auditory displays in 
response to the observer's instructions." 

3.2	Human Needs

What is perhaps more enlightening in assessing VR's 
effects on the human users psychological well-being is the 
study of the less mechanistic processes of human 
psychology: The (gestalt) combinations of psychological 
factors which make up 'human needs'.

A 'need' as defined in psychological terms may be seen as a 
"state of disequilbrium"  is some physiological or 
psychological quantify essential to an individual's well-
being or indeed, survival.

In physiological terms, an example could be the body's 
need for energy giving substances equalling the need for 
food equalling hunger. In psychological terms, there are 
such things as 'acquired needs' which individuals do not 
have at birth but are acquired through the 
environment/social stimuli the individual in question 
experiences.

In assessing which are relevant to this study, certain 
assumptions are made. Acquired human needs need not be 
studied in detail due to the individual's likely upholding of  
'real' societies social and environmental frame works other 
those of a virtual reality; although this will be discussed in 
a later section.

Certain physiological needs such as hunger, waste disposal 
etc. will be ignored, assuming that VR users will satisfy 
these in re-entry to reality...

3.2.1	The Need for Reality?

Physiological processes which rely on external stimuli to 
regulate them, such as the so-called 'biological time clock' 
could be affected by prolonged immersion in a simulated 
environment.

In her book "Behaviour and perception in strange 
environments" , Dr. Helen Ross states that the 'circadian 
rhythms' which govern the biological clock are determined 
by various zeitgebers (time-givers) e.g. the light-dark 
cycle, and social factors such as the streets being empty 
late at night, but busy at noon.

She goes on to describe an experimental situation not 
dissimilar to that which could be experienced in 
CyberSpace.

"If a person is kept in isolation in continuous light 
or darkness without any information about the time, 
it is possible to study his biological rhythms 
unentrained to any known zeitgebers...biological 
rhythms [become] out of phase with this sleep cycle, 
and he [the subject] showed a lengthened reaction 
time on psychological tests."  indicating that the 
depravation from society and natural phenomena 
that VR users could experience leads to a reduction 
in human performance.

3.2.2	Human needs from the built environment, 
	and Maslow's humanistic theories

The built environment, and architecture itself, are direct 
results of the primordial human physiological need for 
shelter.

In the terms of the physiological states of disequilibrium 
discussed above in 3.2, a building acts as a climate modifier 
to satisfy its human occupants needs for warmth, shelter 
and safety.

But what of the psychological, 'acquired' needs also 
discussed in 3.2?

The psychologist Abraham Maslow's model for the 
structure of human needs describes in detail the nature of 
these acquired needs.

Maslow proposes a hierarchy for human needs: 
physiological and psychological; in which the physiological 
needs , such as food and oxygen, are at the bottom of the 
hierarchy; while complex, acquired needs such as aesthetics 
and learning are higher up.

At the top of Maslows hierarchy is the concept of self-
actualisation', a point reached when the individual 
concerned has become:

"everything one is capable of becoming" 

and the individual's need to reach this state is seen as what 
drives ones progress up the hierarchy of needs.

The pyramidal nature of the structure is explained thus:

"Needs lower down the in the hierarchy must be 
satisfied before we can fully attend to the needs 
at the next level up; for instance, physiological 
needs must be met before we concentrate on 
safety needs. If you are trying to concentrate on 
what you are ready while your stomach is 
trying to tell you it is lunch time, you probably 
will not absorb much..." 

How do buildings satisfy the higher needs? 

The ownership and association with a presitigous buidling 
serves to satisfy the esteem needs described in Maslow's 
hierachy.

Successful architecture, should perhaps also satifsy still 
higher needs, such as the aesthetic and cognitive needs, 
described respectively as follows:

"Beauty: in art and nature - symmetry, balance 
order and form.... Knowledge and 
understanding, curiosity, exploration, need for 
meaning and predictability." 

The architect, may experience self-actualisation in his 
creation of the architecture, but interpreting Maslow's 
hierachy, it seems doubtful that the user of a physical 
building would experience self-actualization due to it.


3.3	Human Discriminatory Abilities
	in Unusual Environments

The human awareness continually subjects its sensory 
inputs to discriminatory processes.

"Discrimination of stimuli is indicated when an 
individual responds in a different way to different 
stimuli" 

3.3.1	Scales and models

While research has shown that humans are born with a few 
innate discriminatory abilities - most are learned.

As well as simple habits which we learn from others to 
automatically employ, we are conditioned to use scales and 
models of comparison in our discriminatory processes. 
Gagne and Fleishman state:

"In making differential responses, it is evident that 
the human being often does more than simply exhibit 
different reactions to two or more different stimuli. 
He is also able to identify stimulus qualities in terms 
of a remembered model or scale...an identifying 
response may be said to occur whenever an 
individual makes a response which identifies a 
difference (or lack or difference) between a present 
stimulus and remembered standard which is not 
physically present." 

The implication that these 'models and scales' are learnt 
means that new environments and situations can be 
discriminated after suitable reference criteria are learnt - 
depending on how complex or foreign these situations are, 
the longer the human mind will take to construct frames of 
reference.

Gagne and Fleishman use this example:

"When an individual first attempts to look at living 
cells and other small entities through a microscope, 
he usually experiences great difficulty in identifying 
anything except a differently shaded round field of 
view. By continuing practice in comparing what he 
sees with printed pictures, he eventually acquires a 
set of models that enables him to identify a 
collection of cells, a bacterium, a vacuole, and many 
other things. having acquired such models, his 
identification of new entities is made much 
easier." 

3.3.2	Problems of Scale

Referring to Dr. Ross book regarding unfamiliar situations 
without the aid of any pre-learnt scale or model, problems 
of scale in 'off-size environments' are dealt with:

"Familiar size can also affect spatial perception. 
When other size and distance cues are weak, there is 
a tendency to see a familiar object as though it were 
at an appropriate distance for its retinal size. Thus a 
miniature object may seem as normal in size but too 
distant, and an enlarged version may seem normal 
but too near... a particularly difficult case is 
Fylindales Early Warning Station: three mysterious 
globes lie, like Ping-Pong balls across the heather 
of the North Yorkshire Moors. A party of walkers 
whom I was with, assumed from a distance that the 
globes were about the size of a house but on 
approaching we realised that they were four or five 
times that size...similarly, astronauts have 
complained that it is impossible to tell the distance 
of mountains on the moon: they might be any size or 
distance..." 

In a virtual reality where your size relative to your 
environment (which could be infinite) may be a completely 
dynamic variable, scale cues must be rethought, as will be 
discussed later in this work.

3.4	Human Navigational Abilities
	in Unusual Environments

In any environment, it is essential to be able to orientate 
oneself with ones surroundings in order to explore that 
environment. A computer simulation is no different.

3.4.1	This Way Up

The first step in orientation must be to know which way is 
'up'; so that a correct frame of reference to the 
surroundings can be constructed.

The environmental cues which inform one which way is up 
are related thus in Dr. Ross' work:

"A man standing on earth normally has several sorts 
of cues available to him, all indicating the direction 
of the gravitational vertical. these cues can be 
subdivided into three main classes: visual - from the 
alignments of plants, buildings and other objects; 
vestibular- from the sensory canals of the inner ear; 
and kinaesthetic - from the pressure and joint 
receptors in various parts of the body." 

As was discussed in 3.1, the Gibsonian classifications of 
sensory input: Exteroception and Proprioception combine 
to present a clear impression of the environment to the 
brain - in this case to determine which way is up.

However, the present case while using VR is for the 
exteroceptive senses to be well catered for, immersed in a 
simulation; while the proprioceptive input remains 
unchanged in relation to 'real reality'. that is, your physical 
body, and the sensory cues that it provides are unaffected 
by your orientation in virtual reality.

"The most common source of conflict is between the 
visual and the vestibular-kinaesthetic vertical... 
sometimes the visual cues are at fault rather than 
the gravitational cues, as in a tilted room...", this 
certainly being the case for our elementary VR 
example, "...When the tilted scene fills the whole 
visual field..." as in an immersion VR "...it is much 
more effective than when it fills only part." 

The problem of conflicting exteroceptual and 
proprioceptual cues can most easily be solved in VR 
systems by taking a step back from advanced , head-
mounted displays to the technology of hydraulically 
manipulated cockpits of traditional aircraft flight 
simulators. In these the two sensory categories are 
reconciled simply by the virtue of the physical body being 
part of the simulation.

But, Dr. Ross goes on to say:

"Experiments in conflicting cues are further 
complicated by adaptation. A tilted visual scene or a 
tilted bodily position seems more vertical after a 
minute or two, and there is a contrasting after -
effect when orientation returns to the true vertical. It 
is often unclear whether the visual or bodily systems 
adapt, or another all systems adapt..." 

So, as was discussed in 3.3.1, the discrepancies arising 
between physical and simulated sensory input, give rise to 
new discriminatory models enabling the user to 
compensate. Although as was mentioned in 2.4, the rift 
between physical and simulated sensory input can cause 
adverse effects similar to motion sickness.

3.4.2	Navigational Abilities

While unlike many other species, humans have poor innate 
navigational ability; not possessing as advanced magnetic 
senses or other position aides to navigation as other 
animals have; the human ability of learning compensates.

Humans build up 'cognitive maps' to refer to when 
navigating their environments  These are made up of 
cognitive models consisting of landmarks, geographical 
features, street names, etc. these models are dynamic in 
nature, and an important feature of our use of them is the 
ability to identify the salient features of the cognitive map 
in the surroundings viewed from new, different angles. This 
can be achieved through experience in navigation, and/or 
familiarity with the surroundings in question 



Navigational abilities of humans, have of course been 
augmented by technology: from maps to intricate 
technological instruments, which short-circuit the 
development of cognitive maps:

"Modern pilots... tend to rely heavily on instruments, 
and become lost without them." 

3.4.3	Navigation in Built Environments:
	Physical or Virtual.

In a built environment, the absolute navigational cues, such 
as compass points or astronomical positions, have little or 
no use. Cognitive maps involving paths, edges, landmarks, 
etc. become more dominant.

In his book, "The Image of the City", Kevin Lynch 
describes a notion of a city's 'imageability'  suggesting 
that certain cities are easier to make cognitive maps of than 
others. These being cities with more distinctive divisions 
between areas, and more recognisable landmarks.

In "Behaviour and Perception in Strange Environments", 
Dr. Ross states:

"Incorrect cognitive maps are sometimes developed 
accidentally during the first visit to a city, and are 
then very difficult to rectify." and "...the possession 
of distinctive features is not sufficient to ensure that 
people will acquire a correct cognitive map of the 
city... Three dimensional cities, with bridges, 
underpasses and spaghetti junctions, strike some 
motorists with confusion and terror" 

Some parallels could be found in the last statement with the 
participant's probable experience of Virtual Reality.

3.5	Isolation

Entering a simulation for any length of time implies a shift 
of concentration from the real, social world to that of 
introspection and isolation.

Entering a virtual reality environment is an extreme case of 
this. The isolation from social stimuli in such cases is 
largely unexplored, but can be assumed for the purposes of 
this work to be analogous to the experiences of people 
who have while experiencing a full range of sensory input, 
been isolated from society, e.g. explorers, solo yachtsmen 
etc.

"Auditory errors or hallucinations are such a 
common experience among isolated people that they 
may have difficulty in distinguishing between 
imagination and reality" 

Placing this statement within the context of VR; a 
continuum which may be sufficiently 'hallucinatory' in the 
first instance, is difficult; but assuming that the user's 
human ability of discriminatory adaptation as described in 
3.3, renders the virtual reality as the scale or model against 
which all other experience is measured, however far 
removed from a 'normal' frame of reference, isolationary 
hallucinations could still plague a user.

In her work, Dr. Ross goes on to state:

"Social isolation can lead to symptoms similar to 
those shown in some kinds of mental illness. Some 
people develop an 'oceanic' feeling of being 'at one' 
with the universe; others, particularly airline pilots, 
divers... may develop a feeling of break-off or 
unreality...."



Four:

Architecture
and Virtual
Realit


4.0	The response of architecture

4.1	Architecture as information

A virtual reality is an information space, and to adapt to the 
callenge of virtual reality technology, and to exploit it fully; 
architects must be proven to be adept at the creation of 
ordered information.

4.1.1	A goal-oriented perception of architecture.

In 3.4.4., human navigational needs in built environments 
were described. We each build models or maps in our 
minds to help navigate around a city / town / building, 
using objects to which we attach various attributes to use 
in mapping the environment. For instance, a church tower 
could be awarded attributes such as its proximity to the 
centre of a town, its neighbours, the availability of car 
parking near it etc. The architectural icon or landmark, has 
certain information, both geographical and other than 
geographical attached to it which we learn by experience, 
and access every time we see it.

The demands of western culture mean that to most people, 
buildings are seen as means to an end, and their experience 
of architecture is to this end, goal-driven. That is, a 
building must guide someone to their place of work, social 
or commercial exchange in the easiest/quickest/most 
pleasant way; taking for granted the facts that it must stay 
up, keep the weather out etc.

4.1.2		'Commoditas'

The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary defines 
'Commodity' as

"suitability, fitting utility, convenience as a property 
of something." 

The Vitruvian concept of 'Commoditas', that of the 
functionality of architectural space, is the one given most 
credence perhaps by capitalist societies, due to this goal-
oriented perception of buildings.

The modern movement's credo of 'Form follows Function' 
could be seen to reinforce the modern western view of 
functionality's primacy.

The ordering of spaces within a functional building would 
facilitate the goals of the users. The maps and models that 
the users build up of the building would be easy to 
construct and use. The building perceived - the information 
the user receives and stores from the building, its entrance, 
circulation, spaces, is designed by the architect. Hence, the 
architect orders information. 

4.2		Information as architecture

4.2.1		The information environment

In  interview, Neil Spiller, a British architect concerned 
with the possibilities of virtual reality and information-
space, gave this illustration of the increase of information 
processed in our society:

"If you take the average human life at the beginning 
of this century, and let the total amount of 
information the person processed in that lifetime 
equal one unit, then what we process today in of 
lifetimes in on average ten thousand time that 
unit." 

Clearly, the increase in information available to us is a 
matter worth addressing. Computer networks, global 
communication and the growth of information industries 
are addressed in Brendan P. Kehoe's book "Zen and the 
Art of the Internet":

'We are truly in an information society. Now more 
than ever, moving vast amounts of information 
quickly across great distances is one of our most 
pressing needs. From small one-person 
entrepreneurial efforts, to the largest of 
corporations, more and more professional people 
are discovering that the only way to be successful in 
the '90's and beyond is to realise that technology is 
advancing at a break-neck pace - and they must 
somehow keep up. Likewise, researchers from all 
corners of the Earth are finding that their work 
thrives in a networked environment. Immediate 
access to the work of their colleagues and a 
"virtual" library of millions of volumes and 
thousands of papers affords them the ability to 
incorporate a body of knowledge heretofore 
unthinkable. Work groups can now conduct 
interactive conferences with each other, paying no 
heed to physical location - the possibilities are 
endless.' 

This realisation of an information culture was predicted in 
1962 by Marshall McLuhan, in his book 'The Gutenburg 
Galaxy':

"The new electronic interdependence recreates the 
world in the image of a global village" 

In "Designing the Future", Robin Baker states:

"Ever since the physical limitations on both the 
nature of the information and its storage were 
removed by computer, the 'firehoses' of information 
have been pumping out increasingly large amounts 
of data. This is at present being stored, on the 
assumption that at some point in the future it will be 
analysed. But as the means of data-capture move 
from an analogue to a digital format, not only is 
more data produced, but all data is now 
interchangeable. Cross-referencing is therefore 
increased, producing even more data. [the data 
which refers to the links between the original data 
and so on...] The management of this information 
will be impossible without a technological base." 

These comments would suggest that a structure, or 
infrastructure for the ordering of information space seems 
to be of paramount concern.

4.3		Design: The ordering of information

The structure and form that information takes can be seen 
most readily at present in the printed media; the structure 
and form being given by the skills of the graphic designer. 

In two dimensions, the graphic design professional 
influences the user through the media to read, interpret, 
experience, and digest the data contained within, using 
tools such as the layout of the text, the type sizes and 
typefaces. These can be said to be the structural elements 
of the information (in two dimensions), the size of the text 
gives headings, sub-headings and body text: hierarchies 
which guide the reader around the page.

The goal-oriented, spatial information model of a building  
discussed in 4.1.1., could be seen as four dimensional 
information design. Architects remain in control of layout, 
but substitute space and light, for type size and typeface 
perhaps; to control the subtleties of spatial hierarchy, 
functional disposition of space, or narrative.

As indicated in interview with Kevin Williams of Division, 
and Neil Spiller; virtual reality presents opportunities for 
design in a continuum with the possibility of many more 
dimensions than four. 

4.3.1		The role of the architect

Neil Spiller describes his thoughts on the role of the 
architect in a VR society:

"...there are two streams of thought. One is that 
there will continue to be the 'traditional' real-world 
architect, which we all currently train for; and 
Cyberspace architects, who will be a cross between 
architect, psychologist and computer programmer. 
Now, I disagree with that distinction. I think all 
architects will have to become Cyberspace 
architects; so that they can deal in a variety of 
spaces: some real, some virtual. The important 
thing, then becomes the interface, as I said before, 
between the virtual and the vital. This will probably 
be the most interesting zone, architecturally. How 
far will Cyberspace peep through? I think certainly 
in the next ten years this will happen more and 
more...I think it's crucial for the architectural 
profession, because at the moment architects aren't 
central to society...we have to be involved in the 
formal organisation of information in Cyberspace. 
Which is one of our skills. We are uniquely trained 
to be able to order information." 

The problems that may be associated with VR use explored 
in chapter 3, would have to be addressed by a designer of a 
VR infrastructure.

4.4		The Design Challenges of VR.

4.4.1		Providing for Human Needs

In 3.3.1, the human need to build scales and models to use 
in interacting with their environment, was discussed.

In the infinity of new possibilities that VR presents, novel 
ways of helping a user to create such gestalt frames of 
references will need to be employed by an information 
environment designer.



I state in 3.3.1 that 

"new environments and situations can be 
discriminated after suitable reference criteria are 
learnt. Dependent on how complex or foreign these 
situations are, the longer the human mind will take 
to construct frames of reference."

The designer of a virtual reality may configure it such a 
way as to reduce the time needed to adjust to it, and create 
new frames of reference.

4.4.2		Navigation in Cyberspace

In 3.4.4., navigation in built environments is discussed, and 
Kevin Lynch's idea of a city's 'imageability'., where cities 
with more distinct landmarks and defined areas, are easier 
to mentally 'map' and hence navigate around than cities that 
do not possess these qualities.

Neil Spiller states:

"Psychologically, there are certain thing which are 
very important in a virtual reality. Like, when you 
start off in Cyberspace, you always start at a 
familiar reference point, a familiar piece of unreal 
real estate; so that you can navigate from that."

So, Lynch's concept of imageability should hold in virtual 
reality - designers of such should have a grasp of the 
discipline and knowledge of urbanism which has built up 
over centuries alongside that of architecture.

4.4.3		Scale and Simulation

In 3.3.2, problems of scale are discussed:

"Familiar size can also affect spatial perception. 
When other size and distance cues are weak, there is 
a tendency to see a familiar object as though it were 
at an appropriate distance for its retinal size"  

and I state that:

"In  a virtual reality where your size relative to your 
environment (which could be infinite) may be a 
completely dynamic variable, scale cues must be 
rethought."

Spiller goes on to say that:

"...Cyberspace can in effect liberate us from what 
they call our 'Mind Sets'[innate, consensual, or 
learnt gestalt arrays of scales and models], about 
space, [and] anthropomorphic scale... our 
architecture is not necessarily going to be to do with 
the scale of the body. In Cyberspace, I can fit in 
somewhere really small. An just that simple fact 
changes the whole nature of architecture." 

In his essay, 'Cyberspace: Some Proposals' , Michael 
Benedikt suggests that the scale of an observer in 
Cyberspace be variable as a function of the amount of 
information you perceive, and illustrates his proposal thus:

"Traditional Japanese gardens, for example, are 
miniaturised, their elements representing whole 
mountains, seas, rivers and trees. Because the 
garden is real, closeness reveals detail everywhere; 
because it covers itself up - offering only partial 
views - it discloses new information constantly... 
The visitor to the garden nonetheless feels powerful: 
his every inertially registered motion makes a 
difference to what he sees - too much difference 
really, and this belies the garden's true size, even as 
we enjoy its 'intensity'. By contrast, the enormous, 
empty halls favoured by the Romans, and later, for 
similar reasons, by Albert Speer, have the effect - 
in their visual simplicity combined with their slow 
rate of visual change at normal walking speeds and 
near-zero information gain of reducing the 
individual in size, making him feel impotent in even 
this most simple procedure: walking. We have 
immensity stripped of information. Similar effects, 
and other manipulations (such as light from below, 
tilted horizons) that strike us deeply, will be 
available to the designers of Cyberspace 
environments from the histories of designed real 
environments." 

This algorithmic solution to the provision of scale reference 
and models for human users of VR is expanded upon by 
Tim McFadden in his essay "Notes on the structure of 
Cyberspace".  He uses the concept of the Holon: a figure 
or form whose part defines it's whole, and the whole 
describes the part:

"Holons have cohesion and separateness. The two 
conceptual poles of the Holon are self-assertive 
tendency and the integrative tendency."12 

As in the famous Mandelbrot sets, at ever 
increasing/decreasing scales the detail of the object 
resembles the whole - iterative algorithms spawn such 
designs.

The use of Holon or fractal forms would give the user of a 
VR based on such algorithms a constant appreciation of 
the overall structure of his environment whatever his point 
of view; enabling psychological scales and models to be 
formed quickly.

While being trained as architects today, we admire the 
works which are created using a holistic (or perhaps, 
holonic) approach to design - Frank Lloyd Wright's 
Prairie Houses; or the work of Mies Van Der Rohe, whose 
dictum of 'God is in the details' may be more apt in 
Cyberspace than he could have imagined.

Holistic/Holonic design as already embraced by traditional 
architects could provide virtual realities which actively 
assist the user in creating useful frames of reference, 
quickly; hence aiding his navigational abilities and his entire 
ability to function usefully in Cyberspace.

4.4.4.	The Second Aesthetic

As described in the definitions in chapter two of this study, 
nature of virtual reality and cyberspace is one of total 
interactivity and user-control.

In such an environment, instantly reconfigurable by the 
user, where does the architect fit in?

Neil Spiller speculates:

"He may be a cross between a computer 
programmer and the director of a movie, creating 
narrative spaces. Currently as architects, we're 
involved in what's known as 'the first aesthetic', 
which is the process in which we design a building 
which is pretty, people move in and it functions for 
them. With Cyberspace architecture, I think we'll be 
more and more involved in 'the second aesthetic' 
which is the aesthetic of the algorithm: the 
opportunity for a group of people to do, within a set 
of rules, a variety of things. So, we're back to the 
idea of spatial hypertext in a sense. An algorithm in 
a computer is a series of steps set up to solve a 
problem. So, in Cyberspace, the architect could say 
that within a certain area of Cyberspace, if you want 
to set up a virtual reality, it has to be red, to be 
simplistic. We would determine rules, but not form. 
Or as architects we might form the folds in time and 
space that Cyberspace is capable of, to create 
Cyberspatial terrain." 

The architect's art of ordering information 'poetically', may 
become subtle to the point of transparency. Much as the 
user of a computer application such as as graphics program 
creates what he will with it, but relies on the tools and 
environment the creator of the program offers him.

In the ultimate extension of the seventies motto of 'long-
life loose-fit, low-energy', architects may algorithmically 
create the underlying environments and tools to function in 
cyberspace.

In reference to Maslow's hierachy of human needs (see 
3.2.2), experience of a design environment may in VR 
become partcipatory enough for a user to satisfy higher 
creative and aesthetic needs than in real space. Cyberspace 
might become a very fertile domain for the pursuit of self-
actualisation.



Five:

Conclusio


5.0	A Conclusion


The essential tenets at the core of the architectural 
profession are usually taken to be the Vitruvian triad of 
Firmitas, Commoditas, and Venustas, or Firmness, 
Commodity and Delight. 

As inferred in the quote above, in a virtual environment 
psychological 'firmness' is more relevant than structural 
soundness. The lessons of chapter three and the possible 
solutions offered in chapter four of my work, indicate that 
this aspect of the triad can be addressed by architects.

In chapter four, Commoditas was discussed - its 
transformation into information architecture is another 
facet of the Vitruvian core of the profession which 
becomes changed and yet familiar enough for architects to 
have a continuity of skills for Cyberspace.

The third aspect of the triad, Delight, has always been the 
most difficult to quantify; and I will not attempt to do so 
here. This will obviously still have to be satisfied by 
Cyberspatial architecture; and the myriad possibilities VR 
promises should have all lovers of architecture full of 
anticipation as to what works of delight could result.


Establish the relevance of Virtual Reality to the 
architectural profession.

Quite apart from the ways in which Virtual Reality 
technology is currently being explored in the architects 
office to give insights into the user's perception of 
projected 'real' buildings, in architectural walkthroughs 
etc., the emergent information society, and it's needs in the 
use of widespread virtual realities can benefit from the 
attention of the architect's skills

Members of architectural profession could establish a 
relevant, if not pre-eminent position in the virtual reality 
design team, by focussing on their already developed skills 
involving the structured ordering of information and 
spaces, as argued in sections 4.1 to 4.3.

Establish whether architects can offer solutions to provide 
for  the human psychological needs of VR users.

Architects can address both the higher and lower 
psychological needs of users, as decribed by Maslow's 
theories (see 3.2.2) in their architecture. Shelter, 
protection, navigational security at the lowest level of the 
hierarchy, and order, formal harmony, symmetry at the 
higher aesthetic levels.

In VR, architects can again transpose the skills they have 
learnt to provide such satisfaction in the physical.

The new opportunites that Cyberspace could present, such 
as scale-independence, and multi-dimensionality; must be 
approached carefully, but could also be seen to be 
compatible with the mind-set and skills of an architect. The 
transition to a designer of the second aesthetic (see 4.4.4) 
is an important one for both the future of profession and 
the future of the medium; and one that could have positive 
feedback into  its other fields.

However, VR is one part of one part of human experience.

Maslow describes the highest state of humanity as being 
self-actualisation. Two characteristics of self actualisers 
being:

"...they perceive reality efficiently and can tolerate 
uncertainty....capable of deep-appreciation of basic life-
experiences" 

Goals worth remembering whichever reality you design in.





Appendix 

Interviews with

Kevin Williams, Neil Spille


Interview with Kevin Williams
at Division Ltd, Bristol

10th August, 1994

Kevin Williams' firm, Division Ltd, are perhaps the most 
advanced manufacturers of Virtual Reality hardware and 
software in the United Kingdom and the Western World. 
They are in active collaboration with the leading-edge 
research department of University of North Carolina at 
Chapel Hill; and were hired by Matsushita Corporation of 
japan, as Virtual reality subcontractors.

MJ:	What would your definition of
	virtual reality be?

KW:	Well, my preferred definition is that of a 
convincing, computer generated world. 
CAD was, and is, a computer generated 
description of a world, but not immersive 
and convincing as our VR systems are.

MJ:	What do you see as the next major 
advances in the technology of Virtual 
Reality?

KW:	Probably a great reduction in the size of the 
headset that's associated with most VR 
systems. The best quality ones, like the ones 
we use for military systems, are currently 
quite bulky. People are speculating that the 
technology advances will be such in the next 
twenty years that they could be made to be 
the size of a large pair of sunglasses...

MJ:	So, the best equipment is military?

KW:	Yes. As you probably know, the origins of 
VR are in the head-up display systems of 
the sixties and seventies; and they're still at 
the leading edge of research. The military 
simulations are the best there are. Really 
convincing.

MJ:	So, apart from the output technology such 
as the headsets, what about such things as 
multi-user or networked VR.

KW:	I think, although we are researching this 
field, that the individual 'workspace' is more 
important to get right first. There's a parallel 
with the spread of computers, or CAD in 
industry. First of all, there was an unrefined, 
relatively slow, dedicated computer, with a 
trained operator in an office; and now there 
are computers on every desk, or CAD 
machines on every desk in an architects 
office, and everyone knows how to use 
them. I think that VR will go the same way. 
There'll be a VR application or workstation 
on everybody's desk.

MJ:	Virtual Reality presents almost unbounded 
possibilities to designers or virtual worlds. 
Is the trend at the moment towards 
simulating 'real' reality as well as possible; 
or to create worlds that normally people 
could never possibly experience?

KW:	Mostly, we're involved in real-world 
applications, but most them have a twist 
which makes the use of VR necessary. For 
instance, you could say that it's used as a 
time machine. In the house simulations for 
Matsushita it's a case of the prospective 
buyer experiencing his or her new house 
before committing to bricks and mortar. In 
terms, of things that you could never 
experience, there are applications that 
combine data to provide a new, 'impossible' 
world. For instance, in architectural 
simulations, where the VR construct of a 
room or and office can be combined with 
computer models of airflows from air 
conditioning to see if the engineering will be 
successful. At the extreme, we simulated a 
nuclear reactor for the French government 
to explore how to solve engineering 
problems they had. it would be of course far 
to dangerous to send a human being in 
there, but could be safely examined in a 
virtual reality we constructed from the 
blueprints.

MJ:	What do you think, from a technologist's 
perspective, could be the implications for 
society as a whole of widespread VR?

KW:	I think it'll probably be a similar situation as 
when any revolution in technology occurs. 
There will be winners and losers. New skills 
will have to be learnt, and new positions in 
industry, business etc., will be created; 
whereas, certain peoples' job's will be lost or 
have to change. The only example I can 
base this on is something we've explored. If 
you merge satellite data on rock strata, and 
site topography with drilling results, then an 
oil company an effectively 'X-ray' stretches 
of the Earth for oil. So, entire field of skills 
in prospecting or divining, what ever you 
want to call it has been lost, or at least has 
stiff competition.

MJ: 	Thank you.



<a name="#spiller">Interview with Neil Spiller
at The Bartlett School of Architecture, London

24th March 1994

MJ:	Firstly, what would be your general 
speculations on the technologies and 
architectural possibilities available in VR? 
In a ten or fifteen years?

NS:	Well, in these areas, in all contemporary 
sciences at the moment, deep future is 
defined as 50 years; so if you imagine 50 
years back from now and all the things that 
have happened, developments in real space, 
psychological space, whatever...there's a 
statistic, I don't know where it came from, 
but if you consider all human knowledge up 
to this point in time as one unit, by the year 
2050 it's going to be 50 units, so there's this 
huge exponential curve of technological 
progress to which VR, as a part is subject. I 
don't usually use the term VR, I prefer the 
expression 'Cyberspace'.

	When we start to talk about VR, a lot of 
people start to think, 'well, that's to do with 
allowing a client to walk through a 
projected building' and that's as far as most 
people think about it.

	Actually, I don't think of it as that at all. 

	Those sort of parameters don't interest me 
at all. What interests me are the aspects of 
Cyberspace which question the nature of 
being human. There are a variety of leading 
edge debates on Artificial Intelligence, one 
of which is whether you can actually 
digitallize human consciousness. People like 
Roger Penrose, say that you can't. You can't 
mimic human emotions like fear or love; 
whereas the other side of the debate say that 
human consciousness is quantifiable.

	Once we can quantify it, its a small step to 
digitising it, and downloading it into 
computers. For example, Hans Moravec, an 
American technologist, reckons that in fifty 
years time, we'll be able to download our 
consciousness.

MJ:	But, aren't VR and Cyberspace are about 
the projection of consciousness, not the 
reproduction of it?

NS:	Well, that depends. In the future I can see a 
variety of inhabitants of Cyberspace, and 
not all of them are derived from humans. It 
may well be that Artificial Intelligences will 
operate in Cyberspace. Cyberspace is a 
difficult thing to quantify. Perhaps what 
interests you more is the interface between 
the Virtual Space and the Vital Space?

MJ:	By vital space you mean 'real' reality.

NS:	One of the aspects it comes down to in 
psychology is the idea that Cyberspace can 
in effect liberate us from what they call our 
'Mind Sets', about space, anthropomorphic 
scale...In answer to your question, I find it 
very difficult to make predictions about ten 
years time... they're already talking about 
breakthroughs in two years time, based on 
new chip technology, faster memory etc.

MJ:	But, if you had to speculate, as science-
fiction writers do. They can only base their 
picture of the future on the present, its a 
reflection of this. Could you project along 
the most likely paths?

NS:	Computer memory becomes much more 
valuable. Unreal real estate if you like, and 
this becomes much better protected against 
hackers with sophisticated encryption 
programs. There's an encryption program 
called PGP, which was military grade 
protection, and hackers have just released it 
onto the open market. You can now get it 
for free, all because they believe that the 
encryption of data is a violation of basic 
human rights.

I'm not really talking about psychology 
much, but It's really just one of the 
interweaving fields of this subject. One of 
the more interesting quotes on the subject 
comes from Benjamin Wooley's book, 
'Virtual Worlds', where he use the 
expression that "Psychology is the Physics 
of Cyberspace"; which I think is right. 
However, not being a psychologist, only an 
architect who knows a bit about it, it's 
difficult to quantify the importance of areas 
of that field to the subject.

MJ:	But if architects do have a role in 
Cyberspatial terms, if as now they have to 
have a knowledge of physics to realise what 
will not fall down, crush and injure etc., 
perhaps they'll need to know more about 
psychology to know what won't 
metaphorically crush them; disturb them 
psychologically...or do you perhaps think 
that the human psyche is a lot more pliable 
than that?

NS:	That's a difficult question to answer. 
Certainly, the human psyche is very 
adaptable, but it's also very personal.

	We all have certain frames of perception 
that are very personal to each one of us, 
from our upbringing, education, and 
possibly from our genetic code. That's the 
subject of a big debate at the moment in 
genetics: how much of what makes us what 
we are apart from the formal aspects are 
part of the genetic code.

Back on the question of the architect's role; 
there are two streams of thought. One is 
that there will continue to be the 'traditional' 
real-world architect, which we all currently 
train for; and Cyberspace architects, who 
will be a cross between architect, 
psychologist and computer programmer. 
Now, I disagree with that distinction.

	I think all architects will have to become 
Cyberspace architects; so that they can deal 
in a variety of spaces: some real, some 
virtual. The important thing, then becomes 
the interface, as I said before, between the 
virtual and the vital. This will probably be 
the most interesting zone, architecturally. 
How far will Cyberspace peep through? I 
think certainly in the next ten years this will 
happen more and more.

MJ:	But, you definitely think that the architect 
has a role.

NS:	Yes, I think it is crucial. I think it's crucial 
for the architectural profession, because at 
the moment architects aren't central to 
society.

MJ:	Information , rather than Institution is 
central to society...

NS:	Yes, and we have to be involved in the 
formal organisation of information in 
Cyberspace. Which is one of our skills.

	We are uniquely trained to be able to order 
information. The Cyberspace book [Michael 
Benedikt's "Cyberspace: first steps"]  uses 
the idea of holonic form in Cyberspace. I've 
done a holon project about the ordering of 
information and the idea of nested spaces. 
It's sort of like the way you enter into a 
computer: you open a folder, your open a 
file that's in it, down to your information 
destination. So, it's space within space, with 
a variety of levels which become ever more 
specific. And, this is tied in with the idea of 
hypertext  navigation through information.

However, there are other arguments, 
perhaps psychological arguments about the 
desirability of this type of information 
ordering. For instance, that a hypertext can 
never replace a library. If you go to a library 
and you're looking for a specific book, and 
it just so happens that while you're browsing 
you find something else that's nothing to do 
with what you were looking for, but you'll 
actually end up taking that book home with 
you. In a hypertext the ordering 
mechanisms are too prescribed, so there's 
not as much opportunity for this kind of 
lateral jump.

MJ:	What about the distinction between 
individual virtual realities, and 
Cyberspace: where Cyberspace is the 
framework in which information exists 
which you navigate through, much like a 
library?

NS:	One of the distinctions to me, is that 
Cyberspace is one of what they call the 
superspaces of the universe. All possibilities 
are available. It's a sort of conceptual space. 
However, Virtual Reality is certain areas in 
Cyberspace which come into being and have 
a 'virtual' reality based on our perception of 
real space. Whereas, not all of Cyberspace 
will have anything to do with our perception 
of real space.

Psychologically, there are certain thing 
which are very important in a virtual reality. 
Like, when you start off in Cyberspace, you 
always start at a familiar reference point, a 
familiar piece of unreal real estate; so that 
you can navigate from that.

MJ:	So, we're getting back into the 
psychological problems of using this unreal 
creation.

NS:	Well, one of the variety of problems about 
it, which has a psychological aspect, is that 
there can be many more types of time in 
Cyberspace, real time is just an option, if 
you like. If someone spends a whole day in 
Cyberspace, what consequences does this 
have for their body-clock?

Also, related to this is that you can adopt a 
variety of forms in Cyberspace. Your not 
limited to your bodily form. For a start, I 
suppose you could make yourself more 
attractive to women. Or, you could be a 
camel, or a sheep, or a collection of 
machine parts; whatever you wanted to be. 
This leads onto another issue, what I call 
'body copyright'. As well as getting to 
psychology, this has political and legal 
implications. It's the idea that you could 
scan the body of an attractive women in to 
your VR, and then make love to her; which 
constitutes 'virtual rape'. So, the idea of 
copyright of the body, will become more 
important.

MJ:	In an existence which can be completely 
simulated...who has the power to create 
such a thing: at the moment it's the 
military, NASA, multinational 
companies...so, the outcome could be 
"reality as brought to you by Ronald 
McDonald", the ultimate advertisement or 
propaganda. The tailoring of reality, much 
in the same way as CNN is tailored reality 
at the moment. Do you think that 
Cyberspace will ever be the property of the 
masses?

NS:	I think that it might well be as ubiquitous as 
the car, and thus have the same economic 
criteria: you can have a car as long as you 
give someone five thousand pounds or so. 
But, I also think that Cyberspace will 
always be a commercial commodity, and the 
quality of experience will always be linked 
to financial status.

There is a funny scenario...the more money 
you pay, the more sophisticated your area 
of Cyberspace is, and the less you may want 
to be observed within it. So consequently, 
as opposed to Cyberspace being as real as 
possible, the more expensive it gets, it may 
become as unreal as possible. The cheaper 
ones would be more real.

MJ:	Following along with that is the current 
myth that 'someone's always got a file on 
you'. The 'lower' down you are, the more 
accessible information about you is. Less 
solvent inhabitants of Cyberspace, might 
receive more virtual junk mail.

NS:	I keep coming back to thinking about your 
original question about the state of things in 
ten years time.

In VR, they're already starting to design the 
'Lookman' for want of a better expression; 
which would be a pair of specs, and a small 
box of electronics at you side, to project 
information about the space around you. 
This sort of approach may well be the start 
of the merging of real space with virtual 
space.

Psychologically, there is an idea that we all 
of us have a 'consensus' of what is real and 
what is not; which we agree on and goes 
unsaid. And this consensus is based on a 
naive reality. I think as virtual reality 
becomes more and more advanced, our 
consensual conception of reality as we see 
around us at the moment, will be blown 
apart... But I do feel that the human mind is 
sufficiently flexible to take that quite radical 
change on board. 

We are also going to be able, in the next ten 
years, to get more and more information 
about our environment, ourselves, other 
people. Which is both frightening and 
exciting. Implicated with this is the fact that 
the legal system is not really geared up to 
understand or legislate about virtual realities 
(or any perception of reality). I'm not sure 
that anything is real, but that's another 
conversation entirely.

MJ:	You mentioned, while referring to the 
'Lookman' idea, about what's called 
'augmented reality' the merging of 
information about the world with our 
traditional sense perception of the world. 
Do you think that our minds are capable of 
absorbing this much information? What 
leads you to believe that we are, when 
people of my age group aren't even meant 
to be able to concentrate on a CNN news-
bite? Or perhaps do you think that is how 
we are capable: we absorb millions of 
different influences, albeit in a very shallow 
way?

NS:	Well, there's another statistic. If you take 
the average human life at the beginning of 
this century, and let the total amount of 
information the person processed in that 
lifetime equal one unit, then what we 
process today in of lifetimes in on average 
ten thousand time that unit. You're then 
getting onto the idea of the sound bite or 
the visual bite, or what's been called 'the blip 
society'. In his book 'The Fourth 
Discontinuity', Bruce Maslich argues there 
have been to date three major paradigm 
shifts in the human psyche. The first was 
Copernicus declaring that the Earth 
revolved around the Sun; the next one was 
Darwin saying we're related to Apes; the 
third was Freud and the subconscious; and 
the fourth he predicts is the evolution into 
Homo Roboticus, were human aspirations 
have become equal to mechanical 
aspirations. This can take a variety of 
guises. I find this idea very interesting 
because I can already see ways in which we 
are starting to comply with it...

MJ:	Our feeling of symbiosis/prosthesis with 
our cars, or computers?

NS:	Yes. Another concept is the idea of a 
'metaworld'. We're all becoming linked 
further and further around the world. A 
whole seething mass of information which 
we're all linked into. I can watch Bagdad 
being strafed as it's happening, or, I've never 
been to Venice, but I know it's sinking. So 
there's this global network that's becoming 
more and more finely tuned, and finely 
linked; processing information faster and 
faster, which goes back to the idea of a 'blip 
society'. I don't know if research will bear 
me out, but we probably have a far lower 
boredom threshold than the guy at the turn 
of the century, who would happily sit round 
a piano for an evening, instead of watching 
the telly.

MJ:	Is that a defence mechanism though?

NS:	Yes, to prevent information overload...

One of the other things that's going to 
happen in the next ten years is that our 
architecture is not necessarily going to be to 
do with the scale of the body. In 
Cyberspace, I can fit in somewhere really 
small. An just that simple fact changes the 
whole nature of architecture. Room don't 
have to be big enough to get into. This 
could possibly mean the death of 
architecture as we know it. Which I think is 
a good thing...Cyberspace allows us a 
liberation from material things, and physical 
structure, gravity...

MJ:	Well, in that case, it Cyberspace does mean 
the death of architecture; is there any need 
for architects; even if they do transform 
into something which can cope with 
Cyberspace? Virtual Reality by its nature, 
is user controlled. Within the constraints of 
the hardware and software, they can 
change anything they want, instantly. If 
architecture then becomes, ephemeral, 
user-controlled and maybe, eventually just 
part of the media, then what role does that 
leave the architect: does he become a 
design policeman or a counsellor?

NS:	He may be a cross between a computer 
programmer and the director of a movie, 
creating narrative spaces. Currently as 
architects, we're involved in what's known 
as 'the first aesthetic', which is the process 
in which we design a building which is 
pretty, people move in and it functions for 
them.

	With Cyberspace architecture, I think we'll 
be more and more involved in 'the second 
aesthetic' which is the aesthetic of the 
algorithm: the opportunity for a group of 
people to do, within a set of rules, a variety 
of things. So, we're back to the idea of 
spatial hypertext in a sense.

	An algorithm in a computer is a series of 
steps set up to solve a problem. So, in 
Cyberspace, the architect could say that 
within a certain area of Cyberspace, if you 
want to set up a virtual reality, it has to be 
red, to be simplistic. We would determine 
rules, but not form. Or as architects we 
might form the folds in time and space that 
Cyberspace is capable of, to create 
Cyberspatial terrain.

MJ:	We've touched upon the sociological 
problems that virtual realities and 
Cyberspace could create; I'd like you now 
to talk purely about these.

NS:	Well, of course, there's a major problem 
with Cyberspace, that if there's this 
wonderful environment that's better than 
reality, the real space will become very 
antisocial. Elements of this can be 
recognised already with TV, for instance, 
people addicted to this don't get enough 
exercise and turn into the 'couch-potato'.

MJ:	What about the notion of virtual catharsis? 
For instance in a VR simulation, one could 
slaughter thousands with impunity...

NS:	Well, there's debate about whether one can 
experience death in Cyberspace. Does death 
in Cyberspace mean death in the real world? 

This all comes back to my point that the 
legal system just isn't geared-up for this 
thing, and one of the things I worry about is 
blanket legislation: "We don't understand it, 
we don't have time to think about it - 
everything's banned...". I mean, that's not 
going to work, because you can't un-invent 
the concept. As Virrilo says, "When you 
invent the car, you invent the car crash".

Returning to your question about death in 
Cyberspace, there's no danger in 
Cyberspace, because it's ultimately not real. 

MJ:	That's interesting. So, quite apart from the 
physiological stimuli that VR is striving to 
provide, do you think the other, 
psychological stimuli that we need to 
operate, like fear, can be provide by VR? 
Or will we again adapt to need different 
stimuli?

NS:	Well, our concepts of fear now are 
completely different from that of a century 
ago. I suppose it could be said that fear 
doesn't exist any more...

MJ:		Thank you.


Bibliography



Books

"Virtual Reality: Through the New Looking Glass"
Ken Pimental and Kevin Teixiera
1993

"The Oxford Companion to Film"
Editor: Liz Anne Borden
1976

"The senses considered as perceptual systems"
J.J. Gibson
1968

"Introducing Psychology"
Ann Taylor, Wladyslaw Sluckin, et al.
1982

"Psychology: the science of mind and behaviour"
Richard D. Gross
1987

"The Psychology of Human Performance"
Robert M. Gagne and Edwin Fleishman
1959

"Behaviour and Perception in Strange Environments"
Dr. Helen E. Ross
1974

"The Psychology of Place"
David Canter
1977

"The Image of the City"
Kevin Lynch
1960

"New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary"
Edited by Lesley Brown
1988

"Zen and the Art of the InterNet"
Brendan P. Kehoe
1993

"The Gutenburg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man"
Marshall McLuhan
1962

"Designing the Future:
The Computer Transformation of Reality"
Robin Baker
1993

"Cyberspace: First Steps"
Edited by Michael Benedict
1993


Articles and Papers

"The Ultimate Display"
Proceedings of the IFIP Congress, 1965
paper by Ivan E. Sutherland

"Did Reality Move for You?"
New Scientist, 23rd May 1992
article by Charles Arthur

"Virtual Reality"
Progressive Architecture, April 1992
article by Douglas MacLeod

"Being and Believing"
The Lancet, Volume 338, August 1991
Editorial Article (author not credited)




Illustrations

Frontispiece
"Bald Screamer" by Jeff Rigby & Scott Silken
Wired 2.10, October 1994

p4
"Genie"
Wired 2.10, October 1994

p7
"Virtual reality in use"
Division Limited Promotional Material

p8
"Head"
Wired 2.07, July 1994

p9
"Virtual reality in use"
Division Limited Promotional Material

p12
"Components of a VR system"
Authors own diagram

p14
"They can network me.."
Wired 2.10, October 1994

p17
"Maslows Hierachy of Human Needs"
from "Psychology: the science of mind and behaviour", Richard D. Gross, 1987

p19
"Problems of Scale"
Authors own diagram

p24
"Liquid Architecture" by Marcus Novak
Wired 2.10, October 1994

p26
"Cambridge Mediatheque" by Spiller Farmer Architects
Building Design, May 20th 1994

p29
"Cambridge Mediatheque" by Robert Evans Architects
Building Design, May 20th 1994

p32
"HotWired"
Wired 2.10, October 1994

p33
"Running Man" by Mars Safrogelev
WIred 2.10, October 1994

 	Attributed to Dr. William Bricken, Washington State University, 
"Virtual Reality: through the new looking glass", Ken Pimental & Kevin Teixeira, 1993, 
p160
 	Attributed to JPB by Mitch Kapor, Founder, Lotus Software: "Virtual Reality: Through the 
New Looking Glass", Ken Pimentel & Kevin Teixeira, 1993, p3.
 	"Virtual Reality: Through the New Looking Glass",
Ken Pimentel & Kevin Teixeira, 1993, p11.
 	"The Ultimate Display", Proceedings of the IFIP Congress, Ivan E. Sutherland, 1965, p506.
 	"Virtual Reality: Through the New Looking Glass",
Ken Pimentel & Kevin Teixeira, 1993, p48.
 	Source: "Did Reality Move for You", Charles Arthur, Article,
New Scientist, 23rd May 1992, p22
 	Or any of the sensory feedbacks needed to simulate reality, i.e. touch, smell, hearing. The 
focus of this section of the work is on the visual sensory feedback, due to its importance in 
the human sensorium, and the technical drawbacks in simulating a visual sensory 
environment are paralleled the development of providing the remaining sensory inputs.

 	"Did Reality Move for You", Charles Arthur, Article, New Scientist, 23rd May 1992, p23

 	Definition of persistence of vision, The Oxford Companion to Film, edited: Liz Anne 
Borden, Oxford University Press, 1976.
 	"Did Reality Move for You", Charles Arthur, Article, New Scientist, 23rd May 1992, p23
 	Source: "Did Reality Move for You", Charles Arthur, Article,
New Scientist, 23rd May 1992, p22

 	"Virtual Reality", Douglas Macleod, Article, Progressive Architecture, April 1992
 	"The senses considered as perceptual systems", J.J. Gison, 1968, p34 et seq.
 	"Introducing Psychology" Ann Taylor, Wladyslaw Sluckin, et al., 1982 p226
 	"Being & believing", Editorial, The Lancet, Vol 338, August 1991, p283.
 	"Psychology of Human Performance", Robert M. Gagne and Edwin Fleishman, 1959.
 	"Behaviour and Perception in Strange Environments", Dr. Helen E. Ross, 1974, p37
 	"Behaviour and Perception in Strange Environments", Dr. Helen E. Ross, 1974, p38
 	"Psychology: the science of mind and behaviour", Richard D. Gross, 1987
 	"Psychology: the science of mind and behaviour", Richard D. Gross, 1987
 	"Psychology: the science of mind and behaviour", Richard D. Gross, 1987
 	"Psychology of Human Performance", Robert M. Gagne and Edwin Fleishman, 1959. p31

 	"Psychology of Human Performance", Robert M. Gagne and Edwin Fleishman, 1959. p36
 	"Psychology of Human Performance", Robert M. Gagne and Edwin Fleishman, 1959. p37
 	"Behaviour and Perception in Strange Environments", Dr. Helen E. Ross, 1974, p62-63
 	"Behaviour and Perception in Strange Environments", Dr. Helen E. Ross, 1974, p101
 	"Behaviour and Perception in Strange Environments", Dr. Helen E. Ross, 1974, p107
 	"Behaviour and Perception in Strange Environments", Dr. Helen E. Ross, 1974, p108
 	"the Psychology of Place", David Canter, 1977, p49
 	"Behaviour and Perception in Strange Environments", Dr. Helen E. Ross, 1974, p112
 	"Behaviour and Perception in Strange Environments", Dr. Helen E. Ross, 1974, p109
 	"The Image of the City", Kevin Lynch, 1960
 	"Behaviour and Perception in Strange Environments", Dr. Helen E. Ross, 1974, p119
 	"Behaviour and Perception in Strange Environments", Dr. Helen E. Ross, 1974, p161
 	New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, Editor: Lesley Brown, 1993 p452
 	The full text of the interview can be found in Appendix A
 	"Zen and the Art of the Internet", Brendan P. Kehoe, 1993, p1
 	"The Gutenburg Galaxy: the making of typographic man", Marshall McLuhan, 1962, p31
 	"Designing the Future: the computer transformation of reality", Robin Baker, 1993, p185
 	The full texts of these interviews can be seen in Appendix A
 	The full text of this interview can be seen in Appendix A
 	"Behaviour and Perception in Strange Environments", Dr. Helen E. Ross, 1974, p62"
 	The full text of the interview can be seen in Appendix A
 	"Cyberspace: First Steps", edited by Michael Benedikt, 1993, p119
 	"Cyberspace: First Steps", edited by Michael Benedikt, 1993, p162
 	"Cyberspace: First Steps", edited by Michael Benedikt, 1993, p347

 	The full text of this interview can be seen in Appendix A
 	"Psychology: the science of mind and behaviour", Richard D. Gross, 1987
 	"Cyberspace: first steps", editor: Michael Benedikt, 1993

 	Hypertext is a concept in which a document's information has in turn dynamic links to other 
documents. For instance, a page which the phrase "The cat sat on the mat" could have 
dynamic links which activated a description of a cat if the word "cat" was selected from the 
document, or a description of woven rugs if "mat was selected. These documents could then 
in turn link to other information on domestic animals or rug producing countries for 
example, and so on.