309 VIRTUAL REALITY IN ARCHITECTURE: ENABLING POSSIBILITIES MURALI PARANANDI Department of Architecture and Interior Design 106-A Alumni Hall, Miami University Oxford, OH 45056, USA ph# 513-529-7086(O) paranam@muohio.edu AND TINA SARAWGI Department of Interior Architecture 251 Stone Building, University of North Carolina at Greensboro Greensboro, NC 27402, USA ph# 336-256-0302 (O) t_sarawg@uncg.edu Abstract. This paper examines the potential of Virtual Reality (VR) technologies for architectural applications. There has been a great deal of anticipation for its implications for architecture since Ivan Sutherland's first VR system in the 60's. The term VR was formalized and became popular in the main stream in the late 80's and became an industry by the late 90's. Although it has found good applications in Medicine, Flight Simulation, and Video Game Industry, its effect on architecture remains imperceptible. In the work that we review, we found that the success of VR in architecture has primarily been in the passive and exploratory applications. We also note that at the present time, the cost of VR systems is directly proportionate to the level of photorealism and immersion. We contend that photorealistic visualization and total immersion are not absolute prerequisites for making most design decisions. Hence, through this paper we bring to light the inherent promise of VR technology and the potential impact it could have with its current limitations, on the way we conventionally think and design our built environment pushing it beyond space and time constraints.