How to Disappear (as a Building)
Disappearing rooms, camouflaged facades, faux facades, heck, even 12 Grimmauld Place that’s invisible to Muggle eyes.
Maraya concert hall in Medina, Saudi Arabia | Photograph: Valery Sharifulin/Tass | Via The Guardian
TL;DR
→ Buildings designed to blend into their environments so holistically as to fully disappear from view
→ New technologies like AI and LED panels are making it possible for structures to fully disappear from view
→ Structures that are digitally there but physically absent (AR architecture)
→ Using mirrors on a facade to visually extend nature
For years on end, we have imagined buildings that can perfectly blend into their surroundings and, here’s the thing, with advances in technology this “dream” of ours is coming closer and closer to reality. If you’re lucky, you might have noticed the sky-camouflaging abilities of buildings in your city when they perfectly reflect the sky around them. Or maybe you’re familiar with camouflaged military hideouts.
Infinity Tower | Via Photonics Online
Either way, today we can use technology to make buildings disappear more fully than ever before. For example, the Tower Infinity in South Korea has been dubbed the ‘Invisible Tower’ as it will use a complex system of high definition cameras and LED panels to capture the surrounding sky and project it onto its facade. This will allow the structure to visually blend-in with the surrounding sky, thereby making it nearly imperceivable to the naked eye. Or so they claim - the structure is still under construction, with an estimated completion date of 2023. (If you’re worried about planes hitting it, don’t. The LED panels are angled downwards so as to only create the illusion of invisibility from the ground.) So we’ll keep an eye on this one, see just how convincing of an illusion it creates.
Digitally there but physically absent
Making buildings disappear with physical means is one thing, but now with AR (augmented reality) tech continuously advancing in sophistication, a future where our physical environments are digitally manipulated or augmented to feature alternative overlays isn’t that far away. Before we know it, our wearables may digitally mask a structure from view. Digitally rendered ghost architecture may come to define our future urban spaces. Virtually generated interior designs will become the norm.
Via The Sociable
Streetscapes may digitally alter themselves to look different each time you pass - making it feel like a new experience each and every time. Special occasions could be commemorated through a smart overlay that’s citywide. For example, turning all of the streets and buildings red and white for Canada Day (I know this is a terrible idea, but just play along for a quick second). Other options include the built environment being adapted to your own preferences - so if you’re partial to Dutch architecture, your North American midwestern town could suddenly feel (or at least look) like Amsterdam. If you miss your hometown in India, you can virtually transform Los Angeles to look (and potentially sound-like) New Delhi. It’ll be interesting to see how this technology affects the tourism industry!
Perhaps more plausible is the use of this tech for immersive interior design. Imagine, your favourite restaurant’s décor could be really transient: there for a short time, not a long time. With data analytics, businesses could precisely know what type of environment is getting the best emotional response. The interiors therefore become a type of evolving space that’s constantly responding to the day’s mood. This type of transient environment could become the norm for us, as businesses continuously reinvent themselves in the hopes of maintaining a captive audience. But those are all future thoughts. Let’s bring it back to the present. What’s currently going on in terms of ‘invisible structures’?
Invisibility as appreciation of nature
So what about using invisible architecture to be more integrated with nature? Personally, I find this to be the best use of mirrored facades and thankfully it’s pretty easy to find some examples of mirrored architecture that is nested within a pristine landscape, its facade reflecting the beauty around it. These structures are attempting to erase their presence from nature and let nature shine instead.
Think of the Mirrorcube by Treehotel located in Swedish Lapland. A perfect mirrored cube suspended in the trees. It blends in with its surroundings, allowing visitors to retreat from the hustle and bustle of urban life in order to admire nature without disturbing it. All they need now is a mirrored or glass walkway to get to it! (The same company also has The Bird’s Nest retreat which similarly looks like a cube suspended in the trees, but this time entirely made of twigs.)
Another example of a fully mirrored building hiding in the woods is that of stpmj. Named the Invisible Barn, the structure reflects the surrounding woodland - punctuated with large plywood lined openings. Some of my favourites include Mirage by Doug Aitken which is this mirrored house that’s traveled the world. Pictured atop a Swiss mountainside or settled in the Palm Springs desert, the house perfectly reflects and augments its surroundings. All I can think of is if I lived there (which no one does incase you’re wondering - it’s an art installation), I hope I’m never walking home drunk or excessively tired and lose sight of my house. I also hope that the structures aren’t surrounded by scores of concussed or dead birds.
Reflective facades cause… why not?!
Of course, using mirrors as a facade is plain cool. It’s a cool aesthetic nearly everyone can get behind. Even for use in interiors, mirrors allow light to be brought into dark corners, for space to be visually expanded, and for details to be reflected. Built in 1684, Versailles’ Hall of Mirrors captures the beauty that mirrored surfaces can bring to interior decoration. This hall in no way attempts to camouflage or disappear from view. Instead it looks to brighten the space, making it feel a little bit lighter (note: not an easy thing to do when the decor is Baroque).
More modern examples of reflective facades being used for a primarily aesthetic reason include this cabin (Lucid Stead by artist Phillip K Smith III). In my opinion it is a prima example of using mirrors to visually lighten the mass of a structure. It helps that it also creates a cool visual illusion of a semi-transparent building.
Hiding structures for safety
Of course, a good reason to hide something from someone is if you’re worried about its security. We hide our most prized possessions from one another in times of unrest, worried they may be stolen or incite unwanted attention. Similarly, in times of war there are certainly certain structures we’d prefer went unnoticed. Without going into too much detail, there are at least three examples of war-time camouflage techniques that come to mind and a fourth that’s sort of related (but also a bit of a stretch):
Physically hiding entire buildings under tarps to camouflage it from aerial detection.*
Product engineering to hide, or at least make planes much harder to detect using radar (stealth aircrafts using low observable technology - also looking really bad ass)
Submarines with special coatings and surface materials to help them hide from (absorb) sonar
Razzle dazzle camouflage for confusing speed and distance readings of naval fleets. So, not necessarily trying to hide the vessels, but rather trying to hide their true intentions by fracturing their outlines.
*If you’ve got some spare time, look up what the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers accomplished during WWII when they disguised Lockheed’s factory as bucolic farmland. Perhaps a story for another blog post, in quick summary it’s the incredible work that went into making an entire chunk of land disappear under tarps, fake houses, and trees. It’s actually really impressive!
Future implications
Disappearing cities
Can you imagine a future where an entire city goes into stealth mode? Where a neighbourhood can disguise itself, or where your hotel room becomes one with the nature around it?
Natural facades
Beyond merely hiding the structure, we’re looking at ways we can better integrate nature with structures and structures with nature. Here we can think of underground, grass-topped structures, vine covered buildings, vertical urban gardens, and planted facades.
Digital facades
With digital means, we’ll probably explore ways we can be more expressive with our environments without necessarily having as large an environmental footprint (interior renovation budgets won’t need to involve any physical materials but simply an upgrade to the software).
What do you think the future will bring for disappearing, morphing, and otherwise invisible structures?