by Elizabeth Bollinger

In Norway, the Land of the Northern Lights, a small computer graphics company is wowing clients with dazzling visualizations and photographic lighting simulations. Since its inception, the company has relied primarily on the Lightscape rendering system.

The visualization firm, curiously named Placebo Effects, is partly owned by the large company Dark-Gruppen, whose divisions provide a range of design consulting services. Placebo Effects provides computer graphics services to Dark-Architects and others in the Norwegian design and architecture community.

Their software of choice, Lightscape, now published by Autodesk, was the first commercial application to incorporate both radiosity, for simulating the effects of diffuse light, and ray tracing, for simulating direct light and specular reflections. In combination, these two technologies create the subtle but decisive lighting effects that make synthetic images look photographic.

One of the largest architectural projects Placebo Effects has worked on is the new 1,500,000-square-foot (137,000 square-meter) office complex of Telenor, Norway's largest telecommunications provider.   >>>

Apotekergaten 10 is the headquarters of Schibsted, the largest media company in Scandinavia. It was designed by Dark-Architects. Image: Placebo Effects The recently completed Trondheim, Norway offices of the worldwide law firm Deloitte & Touche, designed by Dark-Architects. Image: Placebo Effects   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.