The virtual window

I think it depends on how much reality the screen flat provides. All concerns including the breath for sunlight or mental health risk are due to immature technologies from my point of view. You cannot distinguish what's virtual and what's real indeed given the preposition the question assumed.

I would prefer the virtual window apartment. It is more cost effective and I can experience things digitally. It helps me to get more information around the world than the real window.

I would prefer the apartment with digital screen. The screen allows me to see different parts of the world and I would definitely change the view everyday so I would not get bored. Another advantage of not having a window is that bugs and mosquitoes cannot enter my home, which is very intriguing for me.

The 'awesome' digital window offers a wide range of benefits albeit it misses on the most basic ones - air and sunlight. The freshness of the morning sunlight and evening air can never be felt the same by such a digital screen. Moreover, smell of the surrounding might also be difficult to perceive. I would choose the million dollars window, if I can afford it, anyday.

I would prefer a real window over a virtual window. A virtual window can look the same 24 hours a day, while a real window looks different depending on the time of day. A real window also allows me to see my neighbourhood as it changes: as buildings get old and are renovated or rebuilt.

I would prefer the real windows as it allows sunlight to come into your house, it makes the environment more natural. Virtual window, however, is basically a screen, emitting blue lights, it may hurt your eyes and affect your quality of sleep.

I prefer the real windows. Even though this window can display decent view, but it cost a lot of money and the window cant let you feel the environment. other than that, it may also contain health concern, it may bring bad effect to our eyes.

I would prefer the digital screen apartment. I would like to see different parts of the world and experience various of new things rather than having the same view every day. Even though the view might be fascinating to me at the beginning, i am sure eventually get bored. So, the view doesn't worth millions of dollar to me very soon. Also, It will be awesome if i can see my friends at any time without travelling around.

Actually, I would prefer the apartment mentioned above in light of the lower cost and its benefits. With the wall sized digital screen for windows, I can "travel" around the world - change the scenery outside - by just clicking a few buttons. That means I can see the instant scenery of any parts of the world with the real time web cam without actually travel to the actual place. It's quite fun that I could wake up with a entirely different view "outside" everyday morning and that is much better than seeing the same view that do not always change with the real window. Moreover, with the advanced technology, I can even create the scenery so that I could experience and see the views of all the seasons without any geographic and time limitation.

real window definitely. Even with thermal control, i think the window is vital as the ease of contacts with the outside world without leaving home. There is a better ventilation and instant check of weather is available. The direct contacts cannot be replaced by digital display.

I will prefer to have a real windows. Unquestionably virtual windows do provide us a chance to change the view that we want to see. However it is a common sense that the light projected to the digital screen will bring us a harmful effect to our body especially our eyes. Besides , using a projector for a long time will consume a lot of electricity. As a result , we need to afford the cost such as money and some bad effects for our earth.

To me, real window is much better than virtual window. To begin with, the main difference between these two types of window is whether its content is controllable. For real window, people cannot control the view outside. For example, we cannot control what objects and weather we can see outside the window when we can decide the theme or the exact content to be shown in the virtual one. The uncontrollable content can make us feel surprise while we may be bored when we always see the desired views in the virtual one. Apart from its content, the effect to health will be another major concern. Under no circumstances would the artificial light produced by virtual windows be better than the real sunlight comes through the real window. Computer vision syndrome may be found if we are exposed to artificial light in long term.

I prefer living in a room with real windows. Though the digital screen allows us to see the view outside, but to our human eyes, the colour, brightness etc. will still be quite different from what we can see outside a normal window. The virtual videos and photos will still not be able to replace what we see and the sentiments we can experience in real life. Also, with all kinds of functions provided by the digital screen, people can almost do anything in their home without the need to go out. This may further cut us off from the reality and we may become lost in the virtual world. We have to get in touch with the reality in order to feel ourselves as real human beings and not the slaves of the digital world. Looking outside the window kind of provides us a channel to get in touch in the real world given that we are all now already so immersed in our smartphones and in the digital world. Therefore, I think living in a room with real windows will be more preferable.

An apartment with all the walls as screens is quite fancy but personally i wouldn't want my house to seem like a virtual cage. A room without windows is basically breeding ground for germs and diseases. Sunlight and fresh air are the fundamental necessities of life. However, if there is an option in which i can convert one or two rooms into screen size walls, i'll prefer that so as to get a taste of both.

A digital screen can by no mean replace a real window.

For the health issue, digital screen may do more harm than good to both our physical and mental health. In the digital era, many eye diseases are attributed to prolonged exposure to computer and smartphone. Even if blue light filter is available, there is another health problem that cannot be solved. Nowadays, many people are obsessed with computer games. This situation will deteriorate with the advent of digital screen window, which may encourage people to play computer game day and night. This will adversely affect our body hormonal system as many important hormonal functions like cortisol and melatonin work by diurnal rhythm. When the natural sunlight and darkness is replaced by the non-stop flashing digital screen, the biological clock will be greatly disturbed. Besides physical health, some psychiatric patients like those with claustrophobia will experience mental stress when being put in an enclosed room. Although the digital screen can show the scenery of any places in the world, the lack of “real feeling of spaciousness” is still one of the main limitations.

Some may say digital screen can widen one’s horizons as it can virtually take you to any place in the world and therefore it can replace travelling. However, the main purpose of travelling is not only about seeing the scenery, it is about experiencing the cultures through interaction with the local people and tasting the local cuisine. You can search information about different countries using your laptop too but you can never have real-life experience when you just lock yourself up at home.

Real window is an important component of “the memory of home”. Remember how the super typhoon Mangkhut hit your home and how your kind neighbours helped you clean out the mess? Memory is built up upon truth and facts bit by bit. If you don’t even have a sense of belonging in your home, how can it be called “a home”?

My preference would be a real window. Even though a multi-functional wall-sized digital screen allows us to enjoy multiple panoramic views of the city (even the world) without stepping out of the door, they are something "artificial" and "unrealistic". It is simply because these so-called "views" are merely images virtually projected onto the screen. They are not real and concrete after all. On the other hand, an actual window offers things that a digital screen cannot offer - "realism". Opening the window, you can feel the wind, feel the temperature and listen to the sound of nature. In other words, a real window can stimulate all our senses comprehensively while a digital screen is plainly visual excitement. It has its limitations and cannot entirely duplicate the reality.

I would still prefer a real window. It is because that the virtual one just does not feels "right". By that i mean it is not natural and real enough for me to think that "Oh I am really not in HK for the moment". For instance, it is not only visual images that a window deliver, but also tons of other information, like heat from sunlight, ability to interact with the outside world etc. I can grow a plant near a real window, and I can feel the freezing temperature outside by touching the window if it is snowing outside. These cannot be replicated by a virtual one.

I prefer a flat with real windows. Humans are also animals, so we are inclined to nature like other species. Real windows offer a connection between houses and nature outside. We can feel into the genuine nature by windows. We can enjoy the sunlight, feel the fresh breeze, and know day and night. These are essential and cannot be replicated by technology. For example, fresh air is good for our health and good weather makes us feel positive. On the contrary, apartments without windows block the connection with nature. The digital screen harms our health as well. Light from the screen harms our eyes and affects our biological clock. Therefore, I like real windows even though the price is much higher.

I would prefer the digital screen apartment because for me, the convenience it brings costs so much more than a real window. It can helps me explore the world, with that big screen, I can feel like traveling to other places, also, I can meet my friends and family whenever I want. And of course, the biggest reason, the digital screen apartment is more affordable.

I prefer a real window since I want to connect with the nature and take a good breath from the outside everyday.

If I have no choice, I will live in a room like that. But I will work harder and try to move to a flat with window. Because the view will be more real when we look outside from a window, we can feel the sunshine, smell the flowers and even touch it. Besides, we will lose the control of what we see, we may forced to watch advertisements, the government or the companies can easily affect our thought by showing some specific videos frequently. Also, look at a screen for a long time is harmful to our eyes.

I would prefer the apartment with a real window because it allows us to get fresh air and enjoy the real view of the surroundings. Although the apartments with no window are much cheaper than the apartments with a real window, it may damage our health in a long term and the things we can see are only images but not real.

I would prefer having real windows in my apartment instead of using the digital screens as it is not just for the health and ventilation concern, but more importantly, to make our life more interesting. Imagine you are using the digital screens. You may already know what you want and you just project the images on the screen. These predefined settings can never stimulate your senses or excite you as you already know what is going on. However, if you have real windows, I am sure your life will be more exciting as we can never predict what will happen in the real world outside the windows. Although the background will not change much basically, people, vehicles, other living creatures and even more objects will change from time to time. If you look outside the windows, you can see people going to work or doing sports or doing different things and these scenarios will definitely not be the same as you expected every day, and probably you will be surprised or get inspired by them.

I'd prefer a real window rather than a virtual one. We'll feel isolated if there is no real windows. Without real windows, we can't see the views outside and we can't hear the sound outside. The connection between us and the nature is important for our mental health. Image that we stay at a small space for a long time, we may suffer from depression.

I prefer apartment with a real window because we are living in the real world. Nowadays, the technology of virtual reality still cannot simulate a “real” environment which deceive our brain. There are still some differences that our body's sensitive system can detect, for example the temperature, the humidity. Actually our brain know that the virtual window is not real. If I immerse in the virtual world for a long time, I actually get a feeling unreal. In my opinion, virtual cannot take over most of the time of a human life, otherwise I am afraid that, that person would got mental health problems.

I would prefer real windows rather than the screen. As there is no interaction with others if using the screen, like we cannot open the windows and communicate with others, it will affect our health of social well-beings, just like being isolated by others. Moreover we cannot look at the changes of the natural environment realistically as the screen is virtual. The environment outside change a lot with different weather, like the sky will change its colour at different time such as black at night, orange at sunset and the clouds will move with different shape. Lastly, we will lost connection with the world outside as we do not know the weather and things happening clearly through opening the windows and we cannot feel the breeze of wind and the warmth of the sun, exploring the world around us with our scent directly, so I would prefer real windows.

I would prefer a real window over a virtual one, because the digital window is not "real". I understand that the screen can perform way better and with more functions than a real window, but it is not the real way for human to be connected to the nature. All we see is just virtual images, it cannot provide us with the things that nature gives us, such as sunlight, which is essential to human health. Psychologically, I cannot deceive myself that the virtual screen is a real window, not only because it can't give me a refreshing feeling, but also a sense of reality will be lost. Creating "virtual reality" may bring us entertainment or facilitate our communication, but feeling the surroundings and environment in the real world is totally different from only watching them through a screen. In the real world, we can explore the surroundings with our five senses, but a screen can only provide us with the satisfaction of sight and sound. Therefore, a real window does worth us spending a larger amount of money.

I prefer the real windows due to the health concern. It is commonly known that the intense blue light from the digital screen has a potential harmful effect to physical health, especially to our eyes. Also, the digital window may emit harmful radiation from the EM waves. Therefore I will not choose a digital window instead of a real window.

I won't prefer to live in these flat as it's take away the chance of contacting with natural and this will cause serious psychological as well as health problem. Moreover, we will deprived from tendency of social with others. Therefore, I will prefer to live in a room with window rather than the one with screen.

These "virtual windows" have not reached a point where I would be completely immersed and feel as though I am looking through a real window. The technological barrier these "Windows" have to overcome is the factor of changing the image depending on the angle a user is viewing the screen from. When you view an object through a real window and move your field of view from one corner of the window to another, the object will appear as though it is being seen from a different angle -- because in reality, it is. However, upon viewing an object through a "Virtual Window" and subsequently moving at different angles to view the screen, the image remains static, breaking the immersion. So given the choice of a "Virtual Window" which is yet capable of tricking my brain into thinking that it is a real window and an actual real window, I think it would be painfully dull to simply have a bunch of LED screens around you in a cramped room. I would go with the latter.

If I'm not mistaken, the digital screens is only used to replace ordinary windows, but not limiting the user's right to go outside of the apartment. In that case, I would choose to have wall-sized digital screens instead of windows.

With an ordinary window, the views outside of the apartment is fixed, and only fulfills our visual needs (For example, after staying indoors for a long time, we would want to take a look outside). Digital screens, however, could be designed to be interactive, and changes according to what the users want at a certain instant. This seems to be a much better deal.

And in terms of the ventilation and the lack of fresh air, I think air fresheners could have solved the problem, it is not a major concern here.

I'd prefer a real window over the digital screen. Admittedly, the real window has a rather limited view and it's way more costly than its counterpart. Digital screens do have more features, for entertainment, communication as well as education. Well, window is just a plain old window. However, an important point is that digital screens aren’t real. We humans rely on sunlight, just like many other creatures. I will just like to take a glimpse at the bright blue sky or the dark gloomy moon after a day of hard work. No matter how high the resolutions the digital screens are, we can easily differentiate the difference. Digital screens cannot replace real windows. It makes me feel uncomfortable by the fact that I’m just trapped in a room without any windows.

I would prefer the virtual apartment, because it will give me the freedom to experience things digitally that I otherwise wouldn't be able to in person, and it also allows me to connect with people in other parts of the world. Although being able to look outside a window has its advantages, having a virtual window doesn't deprive you of the freedom to step outside the apartment.

It is understandable that some will prefer to go for digital screen walls because

it shows more flexible content and are lower in land costs. However, I would still

choose to live in flats with real scenery and views not only because of the refreshing

feeling from real environment but also that the room will feel more broad and spacious.

Facing four digital high resolution screens will not be enough to give me a more broad

view because I could not relate the real and virtual environment together and they are not immersive enough, so I think

I will feel cramped and pressured if I live in small, digital flats for a long time.

I prefer the digital one more.

Indeed some may argue the real window is somehow more "natural" but the essential criteria for choosing is our living standard!

Given that we are now living in such a small flat in HK, I believe the digital room can provide a immersive experience of being in different environment. Giving more variation of our lifestyle experience than that of "real life flat".

Nonetheless, comparing both options, it somehow can enhance our interpersonal relationships as it allows us to sit in a virtual space very often. There are already real life examples like vrchat such that people enjoy chatting in a virtual space.

I would prefer an apartment with a real window rather than a digital screen because it is "real". Even though a digital screen will be able to project something that looks as real, it does not give a sense that we are actually living in that place. It is like we are playing around with our mind and making us believe that we are in different places when we are just at home. It does not give you the same feeling as when you are actually in the real place. Still, you could get bored of the view you see out of the window but you can travel around to see different "real" places.

I would prefer an apartment with real windows because looking outside to the real world gives me a sense of comfort, knowing that I am living in reality. If I were to move into an apartment with digital screens only, I fear that I will lose my sanity and the concept of reality. Although digital screens allow us to travel to different parts of the world and explore "worlds" that we physically cannot see, it is not real. Being at the actual place and looking through screens are completely different. It is not possible for us to feel our surroundings and atmosphere other than using our mental space to create a "virtual reality". Therefore, living in an apartment with windows is arguably worth spending a higher amount of money.

People can't happily live in a cheap department with wall sized digital screen for windows only. People senses like smelling will be deprived by virtual world without sense experience. They may be satisfactory to the low price of housing... In the long run, it will cause mental illness

of course the apartment with digital screen. it is well air-conditioned so the physical functional value of can be replaced. moreover, digital screen can be a door for us to go into the virtual world, which even allows us to explore and connect to the world more than a real window does.

Despite the digital apartment being more affordable than the apartment with the window, I the window. This is due to the possible repercussions that could possibly happen from happen the digital apartment such as feeling claustrophobic or uncomfortable. Though in terms of money, I would get the digital apartment due to the price. Though it may not be the preferable option, it is the most affordable.

I would only enjoy a real window until it is open and the heat and mosquitos and car exhaust fumes start coming in. On the other hand, a VR window allows us to enjoy the best of everything, allowing us to explore the furthest reaches of the Earth. There is much more variety, fun and change with a VR window, and much less mosquitos.

I will prefer that apartment without window. When the 'windowed' apartments become unaffordable, it is just a dream to live inside. Rather, it is still possible to live the 'windowless' apartments. At least, the 'windowless' apartments provide a place for me to stay when I don't have enough money so I will choose stay in these kind of apartment even though it is not the best option.

I would prefer the virtual window apartment. The screen is awesome, you can watch films, play games, etc. If you really want the view, just go outside. However, the lacking of fresh air is unhealthy especially for those with nose allergies.

I would happily live in the cheap apartment as long as the environment outside is good enough such that I'd feel comfortable taking a walk whenever I need fresh air (i.e. being reasonably vegetated, like how many podiums in HK's residential estates are gardens). It's not like I look out of the window at home all the time anyways. And our discussion is based on the assumption that we have good air conditioning/ventilation, so yea, no worries. If we consider the purpose of normal windows to be to give you fresh air and a good view, it doesn't need to exist when the both purposes can be fulfilled with the design of the flat, with an assumed good ventilation + screens creating a good view.

I am okay with the apartment that without a window. While the price of the flat is unaffordable, to own a apartment that can accommodate myself, it would be extremely good. Although the apartment doesn't have a window, the interactive screen can bring me something similar to a real window/world.

Personally I love the real window view because it evokes the positive feelings and emotions in me when I look at the scene outside the windows: sky, trees, streets. However, given the limited resources and amount of money I would have to pay for a window view, I'd go for the screens because it is an affordable means of experience different realities and scenes, contact and interact with students, and provides the freedom to experience new things everyday within the confine of my room without having to travel out far.

I would prefer the digital screen apartment because its interactive technology allows users to switch the view on demand, and to remove geographical barrier of communication between friends / family members. In other words, it give you the freedom that a normal "windowed" apartment cannot provide.