Quantifying the changing visual experience of architecture: combining movement with visual complexity

Computational fractal analysis provides a repeatable and reliable method for determining the level of characteristic, or typical, visual complexity in the elevations of a building. The present paper describes and demonstrates an alternative application of fractal analysis using perspectival images. Conventionally, orthogonal views, such as plans and elevations, have been the only images used for this approach to the measurement and analysis of architecture. However, a perspective image is a more realistic representation because it is closer to the way humans visually experience space and form. This paper describes an application of computational fractal analysis to perspective views to analyse and measure the visual phenomenon of moving to-wards or through a building. This method is demonstrated by calculating the characteristic complexity of a series of perspective images recording the process of approaching and entering Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House.