Hyperreal
For years, the digital age proved a sorry toolmaker for envisioning unbuilt architecture. Wimpy wire frames or cartoonish mock-ups required a healthy imaginative leap to seem like places you'd want to live or work. But a new wave of "hyperrealistic" computer renderings skillfully blends traditional drawings with photography to eliminate this shortfall. The trompe l'oeil styling by Rafael Viñoly Architects, for instance, evoked the airy openness of the Tokyo International Forum (right) months before a single pane twinkled in the seven-story lobby.
- James Daly
James Daly is a features editor at Wired.
