Perceived Continuation
Rooted in gestalt principles, perceived continuation is one example of visual perception that occurs when we are exposed to something directly and use that information to speculate what lies beyond. As Ross Adams explains, the architecture of the Eden Project, when experienced from the inside, begins to disappear, while the skin produces a blurry, artificial sky. 1 Beyond the confines of the biome, the outside world appears misty and abstracted, and becomes a sort of universal backdrop, which therefore tempts the occupant into making inferences about what exists on the horizon. 2 “The point is to lose oneself in a total environment that has little to do with the actual Cornish countryside beyond Eden.” 3 In this train of thought, it could be quite possible for the Eden Project to be situated anywhere geographically, and still have the same effect on the user. For example, in theory, there would be no difference in the perceived continuation of the project if it was located in the middle of a desert, or on an island in the middle of the ocean, or in the middle of a forest—the effect will always ‘trick’ the occupant into thinking he or she is in the middle of the actual biome present inside of the bubble.