Invisible Buildings? Now You See Me – Now You Don’t

Invisible buildings are not a new idea. But such buildings have tended to be reflective of their surroundings. What if – and this is a very real if – a new era of adaptive image buildings could be built, using new, flexible materials that would make buildings genuinely invisible?  The possibility of an invisibility cloak is not far away.

Imagine a cube resting on a surface. It’s painted black on all sides. On the outside of each side is a graphene based screen, micro-strands thin. The same is true of the inside. There are also small micro-cameras on each side, connected to each screen directly opposite. The base of the cube is side 1, its opposite – the top of the cube - is side 2. 

Now, imagine the camera on side 3 is switched on, and projects its image onto side 4. The result would be to display on side 4, the view seen by the camera on side 3. If the same happens on all sides, the cube would disappear from view into its surroundings.   

It follows that if the cube is only a few centimetres across, a hand drawn across, say side 4 would be displayed on side 3, and so it would appear as if the box wasn’t there. 

Now imagine the cube is large enough to hold a human. The man inside (let’s pretend it is a man), has his own screens to view, which are connected to a separate series of cameras. Those cameras are displaying on the internal screens the view outside. To the man inside, it would appear as if there is no solid wall between him and the world he is looking at. 

If the cube were in a street, it follows that the people passing by the cube would not see it, but only the images on the screens it is displaying – which under the above scenario, would be the views surrounding it.  Anyone inside the box conversely, could see everything happening outside. 

An invisibility cloak!

There is another possibility. That the external facing screens could display alternative images – real from elsewhere or simply digital displays of imaginary  buildings, mixed with real images of the surrounding environment.  The latter mixed, composite image, would result in the appearance of a building that isn’t actually there! 

This may sound fantasy, but the technology exists to create such scenarios.   The technology can be used for vehicles, for which there may be wider implications, but applying it to stationary objects – buildings – is far more straightforward, and a distinct possibility given the rapid advances in both flexible screen technology, micro cameras and ultra (4k) (very ultra [8k]) high definition digital imaging.   

The implications for building design, master planning and how we understand the built environment can face serious and interesting challenges. There are architectural issues if buildings don’t need to be constructed in such creative / engineered ways as at present, but can be made to appear to look wholly different from their construction. 

*Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are mine and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any part of Savills plc or any of its associated companies, nor are any assumptions made reflective of the position of Savills plc and its associated companies.