Architecture is conventionally defined within our physical reality. Real space, however, is not neutral. It establishes a relationship between the external world and its natural laws. Therefore, the territory of architecture defines its own set of rules that determine a sense of reality, materiality, time and space. If our planet had the gravity of the Moon, the lightness of the materials would make the construction of colossal structures possible. Buildings could be much taller, the bridges infinitely longer.

When the physical context is removed, as in dreams or in a virtual environment, the conditions that bound us to reality disappear. Without gravity, rain or wind, architecture no longer needs to obey its impositions. To fly, to walk through walls, to manipulate space in previously impossible ways, then becomes possible. We no longer talk about architecture in the terms we knew before and even space becomes a metaphor for itself.

This article was originally posted on Nowherescape.