LIGHT AS AN INSTRUMENT FOR CREATING VIRTUAL IMAGES IN ARCHITECTURE

Light as a construction "material" has been used for a long time as the main component of a visual image. The architectural music, set in stone, can be only seen in the presence of light. But light does not only make the real world visible, it can also simulate a virtual world. This use of light was first explored four hundred years ago, during the baroque era, when devices like the microscope, telescope and magic lantern were first invented, and images were first projected by means of the latter. Today we can create static and dynamic illusory images in architecture, which are capable of beginning a visual dialogue with the observers. The key characteristics of such illusory spaces are their temporal nature, multi-variance and sense of spectacle.