While there are many potential applications which could benefit from being presented in these environments, the simulation of architectural spaces is perhaps the most obvious one. Is satisfies a real need in the architectural community, that of improving the communication between the designer who relies on architectural representations, and the client whose best understanding of the design occurs only when being physically present within the space. Designers' existing forms of spatial representation require intellectual abstraction and offer only limited views. Perspective renderings are fixed and pre-determine our choice of views. Models are three dimensional but they cannot be entered.
Computer animations are dynamic but, as the path is pre-determined, they also restrict our views.
In virtual environments, participants are free to look, move and see most closely to the way they would in the real environment. Virtual interfaces become the ultimate perspective drawing, the ultimate model, the ultimate computer animation for describing an architecture project. But while simulations can be very effective in representing spaces, their misperception can result in erroneous judgments. Participants who misperceive the simulated space would probably be unhappily surprised at the outcome of the project. The entire process of discovering and evaluating a space with this simulation could be detrimental to its intent of improving the communication between the designer and the client.