Ames Room

An Ames room is a trapezoidal-shaped room that is purposefully designed to create an optical illusion for the observer watching into the room from a peep hole.

The name comes from the american ophtalmologist Adelbert Ames, who was probably influenced by Hermann Helmholtz. It was first constructed in 1935.

To the observer, the room looks like a classic rectangular-shaped room, with a level ceiling and floor. In reality, the room is trapezoidal, with a slanted ceiling, and one side of the room is significantly further from the observer than the other side. As a result, an object standing in one side looks like a giant, while the other object (which is very far) looks very small, but their depth looks the same. The illusion is incredibly convincing, to the point that a person moving from the far corner to the closer one seems to be growing while walking.

This effect has been used in several movies, including the famous trilogy The Lord of the Rings to make hobbits appear smaller than humans; it was also used in an old adaptation of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to represent Oompa Loompas.

It has been demonstrated that walls and a ceiling are not necessary to create this illusion, a horizon is sufficient to trick the brains into re-adapting the depth perception.

Honi Effect

It has also been studied that if the observer is affectively linked to the person being observed (i.e. wife) the size distortion effect is severely diminished.

This is known as the Honi effect, but it has not been proven scientifically (it might be curious to test it further, though).

An Ames Room viewed from above, notice the trapezoidal shape. The ceiling is also slanted (not visible)

The same person in the two corners of an Ames room

Two people standing in the two corners look very large or very small, while in reality they are just very close or very distant from the observer