Parallax

Trees in Hard Landscapes, A Guide for Delivery, published by the Trees and Design Action Group in September 2014, defines Parallax as: ‘…the apparent displacement of an observed object due to a change in the position of the observer. Tall features located very near to the carriageway and viewed from a travelling car will seem to “move” more quickly than other objects in the far background, reinforcing the driver’s impression of his or her own speed.’

In everyday life, parallax allows us to perceive three-dimensionality. When a person moves, closer objects appear to shift more quickly in relation to distant ones, giving the viewer a sense of depth. Architects and designers can use this natural visual phenomenon to enhance how a building or space is perceived, particularly in relation to movement, alignment, and visual layering.

Applications in building design include:

• Creating depth and visual interest: Parallax can transform flat or simple designs into visually dynamic compositions. For example, when a person walks through a colonnade, the columns appear to shift relative to one another, creating a rhythm of movement and depth. This effect can make static architecture feel alive and engaging.
• Framing views and perspectives: Architects often design with specific sightlines in mind. By understanding parallax, they can control how views unfold as a person moves through a space, for instance, revealing a garden, artwork, or skyline gradually rather than all at once. This creates a sense of discovery and drama.
• Wayfinding and orientation: Parallax helps people intuitively understand spatial relationships, aiding navigation through complex buildings. Subtle changes in perspective can signal direction or hierarchy, guiding occupants toward entrances, corridors, or focal points without the need for explicit signage.
• Daylight and environmental design: When combined with natural light, parallax can produce shifting patterns of shadow and reflection that change throughout the day. This not only adds visual richness but also helps users remain aware of time and orientation within the building, an important psychological benefit in large or enclosed environments.
• Digital and parametric design: Modern digital tools allow architects to simulate parallax effects, testing how materials, screens, and façades will appear in motion. Kinetic façades, layered cladding systems, and perforated panels often rely on parallax to create depth and variation depending on the viewer’s position.

Notable examples of buildings that intentionally exploit parallax to create dynamic visual effects, enhance spatial experience, or reveal layered compositions as viewers move around or through them include:

1. The Broad Museum, Los Angeles (Diller Scofidio + Renfro, 2015): The Broad’s façade is wrapped in a porous, honeycomb-like “veil” that creates a constantly changing visual relationship between the exterior and the spaces within. As visitors move past or approach the building, the depth of the patterned façade shifts and reveals glimpses of the inner “vault.” The design depends on parallax to create motion and depth from an otherwise static structure.
2. Al Bahar Towers, Abu Dhabi (Aedas, 2012): These twin office towers feature a responsive mashrabiya façade made up of hundreds of movable geometric shading panels. As the sun moves across the sky, the panels open and close to control solar gain, while pedestrians experience a constantly changing play of light and shadow. The sense of depth and movement — the parallax — changes with both the viewer’s position and the time of day.
3. Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris (Jean Nouvel, 1987): Jean Nouvel’s kinetic façade uses hundreds of mechanical apertures that mimic traditional Arabic screens. Viewed from different angles, the layered façade creates shifting patterns of transparency and reflection. As a visitor moves, the parallax between the multiple layers of glass, metal, and mechanical diaphragms generates a sense of movement and complexity.
4. 30 St Mary Axe (“The Gherkin”), London (Foster + Partners, 2004): While primarily known for its aerodynamic shape, the Gherkin’s spiralling façade also produces striking parallax effects. As people move around it, the diamond-shaped glass panels appear to rotate and interlock differently, giving the building a sense of dynamic motion that contrasts with its fixed structure.
5. The Jewish Museum, Berlin (Daniel Libeskind, 2001): Libeskind’s design manipulates parallax through angular geometry and controlled viewpoints. As visitors move through the building’s zigzagging corridors and voids, walls shift relative to one another, creating a disorienting yet powerful spatial experience that conveys the museum’s emotional narrative.
6. Serpentine Pavilion 2016, London (BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group): This temporary structure was composed of stacked fibreglass boxes arranged in a curving wall. The gaps between the boxes changed depending on the viewer’s angle — appearing solid from one perspective and transparent from another. This deliberate use of parallax gave the pavilion a playful, kinetic quality.
7. Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris (Frank Gehry, 2014): Gehry’s layered glass “sails” interact with each other as the viewer moves around the building. The curvature and reflections shift constantly, producing a fluid sense of motion. The parallax between the inner gallery structures and the outer glass forms enhances the perception of depth and lightness.
8. National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington D.C. (Adjaye Associates, 2016): The museum’s bronze-coloured lattice façade creates a powerful parallax effect, opaque from some angles and permeable from others. As visitors approach or circle the building, the density of the patterned panels changes, altering how light and shadow are perceived.
9. King’s Cross Station Western Concourse, London (John McAslan + Partners, 2012): The sweeping, diagrid steel roof structure at King’s Cross generates dramatic shifts in depth and pattern as visitors move beneath it. The roof’s geometry plays with parallax to make the space feel both expansive and cohesive, guiding the flow of passengers through the station.
10. Teshima Art Museum, Japan (Ryue Nishizawa, 2010): This minimalist structure uses parallax in a subtler way, through the perception of its curved concrete shell and the interplay of natural light entering through circular openings. As visitors move, the fluid geometry and reflections on the floor water shift, creating an ever-changing visual experience.

At the urban scale, parallax influences how buildings relate to their surroundings. As people move through a city, the relative motion of structures, streets, and open spaces defines the character of the environment. Designers can use this to ensure that façades, street alignments, and landmarks create a coherent, legible experience as people move through the landscape.

Parallax is more than a visual curiosity. it is an essential aspect of how humans perceive and interact with built environments. By consciously incorporating parallax into design, architects can create buildings that respond to movement, reveal their qualities over time, and foster a deeper, more engaging connection between people and place.

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