אדריכלות ישראלית - גיליון 125

Architectural Illusions אדריכלות ישראלית Architecture of Israel # 125 May 2021 22 | | An optical illusion is a misleading impression of reality, created by a different, visual perception of a particular situation. That is - a "malfunction" in the transmission process of information by the brain via the eye. There are many ways to mislead the brain, causing it to perceive reality one way when, in fact, something else is happening. In other words – blur the objective truth (if there is such a thing), transforming it into another subjective "truth". The question is, why is there a need to distort reality and doesn’t this distortion negate the aims of architecture as a medium intended to serve actual reality? The creation of optical illusions served, for instance, the Greek architects who reached the conclusion that the human brain perceives parallel lines as curved due to the perspective lines that cross them. Thus, the perfectly levelled floor of the Greek Temples appeared curved from a distance and the accurate columns seemed to expand at the center. Hence, architects, devotees of visual perfection, deliberately distorted the contours of the floor, ceiling and columns, bringing them closer to each other at points, which the brain perceived as expanding, in order to appear optically "correct". In the course of history, optical illusion became an accepted architectural "trick", and the play between light and shade, was used to enrich spatial experience, inter alia, to enhance the relationship between inside and outside, reinforce or weaken the meeting points between various materials, or to enhance the search factor, in order to reinforce the ceremonial dimension, mainly in public buildings. Thus, optical illusion is actually used to deepen the poetic dimension, forcing the observer to close visual gaps when having to automatically compensate for missing details. food for thought architectural illusions in the fake news era Dr. Ami Ran To illustrate this one may refer to the Italian psychologist, Gaetano Kanizsa, who showed that a missing triangle in the Magen David is automatically perceived by the observer as an existing one. Optical illusions constituted an important chapter in Modern Art, when artists like Picasso, Salvador Dali or Max Ernst created surrealistic compositions by connecting illogical details taken from varying realities, thus forming a new reality in order to convey social, cultural or political messages, by creating emotional involvement by the observer. Thus, artists could convey coded messages without fear of reprisal from (ignorant) government officials. The transition from art to architecture is illustrated by Escher via his well-known works, such as "The Waterfall", "Drift" and "Relativity", where the levels of the structure are deliberately distorted. Escher’s paintings inspired various architects who tried to blur the difference between surfaces, such as Esther Stocker who designed the Alberta Pane Gallery in Venice where she attempted to blur the distinction between walls and ceiling. Such ideas serve both architects and designers in order to promote themselves, using computer capability in order to blur the difference between real and digital, attempting to enhance spatial experience once the uniqueness of all known tricks is exhausted. A well-known social rule is that fake gossip is transmitted ten times faster than real information. Evidence of this is found in sayings such as "Captain Gossip", who has been promoted to the rank of General in the social networks. This idea wasn’t invented in recent years, as is illustrated in the story about the village gossip who was compared to someone who scattered the feathers of a pillow in the wind, and could never get them in again. However, the phenomenon has taken on enormous momentum in the ratings era, since fake news spreads far faster than true information. This principle is naturally exploited as a marketing means in architecture, proved by architects who gain world- wide attention via buildings which, best scenario, "evoke astonishment", or worst scenario, created via computer rendering evoking wonder, in a reality where conventional architecture has already lost the ability to attract. The best example is the dizzying success of MVRDV, the Dutch group of architects who burst on the scene in 1997 with their exaggerated console balconies added to an affordable housing project in Amsterdam. Ever since, all their buildings are intended to arouse some kind of wondering. Thus, optical illusion, once a supporting component in architecture, has become a target in itself, just when computerized technology enables designers to improve reality, making it user effective through digitalization, and the availability of an enormous choice in building materials. In a world of unrestricted boundaries with all life systems managed by zoom, what counts is rating and any obligation to architectural truth has lost its relevance.