Virtual Reality to Evaluate the Size of Interiors with Different Colors

Artists and architects since the Modern Movement, like Albers or Le Corbusier, experienced in their artwork that color is important for depth and amplitude estimation, but without a scientific background. Investigations have commonly addressed the illusion of color depth in 2D, namely chromostereopsis, and more recently the evaluation of egocentric distances in real scenarios compared with VR, but there are scarce results on the role of color in the distances and size evaluations of interior architecture. This text aims to describe two methods that we implemented using VR to obtain an objective numerical estimation of the size variation of a room because of the color. This methodology required a reliable colorimetric control of the VR displays and the psychophysical responses of the observers. Results indicate that VR for perceptual matching tasks and visually directed motor actions is an accurate tool to evaluate the size of virtual interiors with different colors; however, it was found that color differences did not cause an important effect on perceived size. The existence of some visual cues related with the geometry of the rooms might be in the roots of this result and should be reconsidered in the future.