n/d). Evaluating relative impact of virtual reality components detail and realism on spatial comprehension and presence. Unpublished Master Thesis

iii In the last decade, Virtual Reality has become increasingly popular in the field of architecture. Virtual Reality represents computer generated three-dimensional environments that offer the viewer a convincing illusion and an intense feeling of being immersed in a mediated world. Architectural education has become a pertinent context for studying VR’s potential as a learning tool. One of the challenges of architectural education is to help students acquire and improve their spatial visualization skills. For that purpose, different representational mediums have been used – from traditional drawings and physical models to more recent computer-generated environments that offer new ways of exploration. Given the importance that representational medium has in the process of visualization, studies have been performed in search of how new visualization tools could enhance this process. This study is part of the larger research at the Immersive Environments Laboratory (IEL) at Penn State University that aims to examine which components of V