Intro
In films of the last
century it is not uncommon for a modern home to be occupied by a wealthy
villain and for the structures and furnishings to match their attitude towards
human life. The architectural structures would come together to represent a
form of secret lair, cove or hideout
Big Lebowski
Villains
A great example of
this would be the Sheats Goldstein Residence, designed and built by American
Architect John Lautner between the years of 1961 and 1963. The Malibu party
home is occupied by pornographer Jackie
Treehorn in the cult comedy 1998
film, The Big Lebowski.
The structure was
built into a sandstone ledge of Beverly Crest located just on the borders of
Bevelery Hills, Los Angeles America. This would create a cove in the cliff
overlooking nature. A perfect pad for a pornographer.
The cinematographer of
The Big Lebowski, Charles Deakins, described Jackie Treehorn’s apartment as…
"kind of seedy
and the light's pretty nasty with a grittier look.”
Diamonds
Are Forever
Bond Villains Secret
Lair
Arguably the most
famous private house in the world, The 1968 Elrod House in Palm Springs,
California was also built by American Architect John Lautner. This house is
also one of the most architecturally significant homes in all of the world and
described by Lautner himself as ‘Timeless’ design. Lautner was infamous for
making his buildings interact with the natural environment around them. The
large dome like roof and indoor-outdoor swimming pool fits right it to the
surrounding boulders of the location.
Featured in the James
Bond classic film, Diamonds are forever as villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld’s lair,
this house was perfect for the part according to film set designer Ken Adams...
"I wanted to look
at exotic looking places in Palm Springs and I was shown The Elrod House. It
was absolutely right for the film. It was a reinforced concrete structure, very
modern and fabulous. I said ‘this as though I designed it. I didn't have to do
anything.'" [1] Ken Adams
La
Confidential
Designed and built by
Architect Richard Neutra between 1927 and 1929, The Lovell Health House is an
international style modernist structure that lies right in the centre of Los Angeles, America.
It was originally built for former physician Philip Lovell, hence the name
‘Lovell Health House’.
It is architecturally important
for two main reasons. The first being it is described as the first steel framed
house and also an early example of ‘gunite’ (sprayed on concrete) which became
a common trademark of Neutras work.
Secondly, The house
follows many principles of international modernist style and was famously featured
in the 1997 neo-noir film, L.A Confidential.
Set in early '50s Los
Angeles, the stark modern look of House was quite a break from the dark wood
cottages. In the film, the house belongs to Pierce Patchett, A businessman who
is deeply related to a suspicious call-girl service that runs prostitutes
altered by plastic surgery to resemble popular movie stars.
“A building can be
designed to satisfy "by the month" with the regularity of a provider.
Or it can give satisfaction in a very different way, "by the moment,"
the fraction of a second, with the thrill of a lover.” Richard Neutra [4]
Pulp
Fiction
Located just a few
miles north of Sunset Boulevard in Beverley Hills, this modern real estate
paradise is currently on the market and worth millions. In the film Pulp Fiction,
it is home to Mia Wallace, who is the wife of infamous mob leader, Marcellus
Wallace.
Fans of the cult
classic will associate the insides and equally as modern furnishings with the
song ‘Girl, you’ll be a woman soon’. The three-bedroomed house was built in the
60‘s and the architect is unknown. He would probably never know of it’s soon to
be prominent role in the biggest film of the 1990’s.
Ferris
Bueller
The house, located in
Highland, Illinois, America, was designed in 1953 by Architects James Speyer
and David Haid and is officially known as the ‘Ben Rose House’. It was memorably
included in the 80’s classic ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ in which it hosts character
Cameron Frye’s fathers very tempting red 1961
Ferrari 250 GTO in which Frye and Bueller take an iconic joyride through
California in.
The contemporary home has four bedrooms and is 5,300 square feet. The garage is also an art showcase for modern pieces as well as vintage cars and is thought to be on the market for around $3 million. The house is considered to be Speyer’s best architectural work and is notable for its progressive design.
The contemporary home has four bedrooms and is 5,300 square feet. The garage is also an art showcase for modern pieces as well as vintage cars and is thought to be on the market for around $3 million. The house is considered to be Speyer’s best architectural work and is notable for its progressive design.
“In 1958, the house
was one of 12 homes in the nation featured in a Bethlehem Steel publication
promoting the use of steel framing for residential design. Also on the property
is an automobile pavilion, designed by Speyer’s first graduate student David
Haid, to house the Rose’s classic car collection. Haid’s design emulates that
of the house and stands on pylons over a ravine.”[3]
Incredibles
Contemporary films of
the 21st century have taken a slightly different view to the way
heroes and villains are perceived. It would be expected for heroes to return
home to domestic stability, nice picket fences and maybe a thatched roof. The
people that are usually living
within the confides of the modernist steel structures have tended to be
repressed, evil villains just like those seen in Diamonds are Forever, L.A
Confidential and North by Northwest.
In pixar’s
retro-futuristic animated film ‘The Incredibles’, the Parr’s, a family of superheroes, reside in very Neo-modernist
digs. Unlike The Incredibles,
Modernism, is no longer about saving the world. It has become a common way of
achieving certain kind of stylishness and an optimistic yet
dated, way of looking at the world.
The film revolves around a couple of aging
superheroes settling unhappily into middle age, and to match this, the design
team picked the exact period when Modernist architecture was doing the same. Production
designer Lou Romano and art director Ralph Eggleston, weren't specific about
the film's era, but for the most part it dates to the early 1960s. It’s the
obsessive attention to detail that makes this film stand out above other animated
films and it’s exciting to see a modernist era focused on so much in a
childrens family film.
Twilight
Another example of 21st century use of
modern architecture in sci-fi is the ‘Twilight’ series. The films focus around a
main family of ‘well behaved’ vampires, The Cullen’s. They are modern vampires,
therefore live in a modern house. The use of
woods really merges the house with its green forest surroundings. This helps
make stronger the relationship the vampires have with the outside world.
The house
used in the first film is called The Hoke
House and was designed by architect Jeff Kovel. The house was
designed for Nike executive John Hoke and his family and they really liked the
idea of their house being used as the home to a bunch of sophisticated
vampires.
“What did you expect? Coffins, and dungeons and moats?”
Edward Cullen, Twilight
“I am in architecture, development, and rock and
roll.” [4] Jeff Kovel
- “We designed
the house in 2006, completed construction in 2007. We have designed an
additional residence next door that will begin construction once we locate
another vampire” [5] Jeff kovel
Sleeper
When it comes down to science fiction films,
Modern Architecture has been used over the last century to represent a dystopic
or angled view of the future. It is also somewhat a tradition that famous
architectural locations are often used.
A good example of this is the Structured House;
a distinctive elliptical curved house built on Genessee Mountain in Denver, Colorado, in 1963 by architect Charles Deaton. It resembles some sort of spaceship that has landed on a side of a
mountain and is therefore featured prominently in the
1973 Woody Allen sci-fi
comedy Sleeper. It was designed as a sculpture first; the floor plan for the
home was drawn up later (thus it was given the name, “Sculptured House”).
“People aren’t angular. So why should they live in
rectangles?”
charles deaton [7] Charles Deaton
“Ideas
and works about dystopian societies often explore the concept of humans abusing
technology and humans individually and collectively coping, or not being able
to properly cope with technology that has progressed far more rapidly than
humanity's spiritual evolution.” [7]
A Clockwork Orange
Modern Architecture was used to give The Skybreak House a futuristic look in the 1971 cult classic and
controversial, A Clockwork Orange. The film is set in England, in the ‘fascist near-future’. The interior of this House
is a particularly obscure but notable piece of architecture, being designed by
both Richard Rogers and Norman Foster, when they were together in Team 4. The house is located in Radlett, Herefordshire and was
built between 1965 and 1966.
Apparently, Kubrick studied volumes of design and architecture magazines and
projected an exaggerated version of the Pop Art aesthetic of the 1970s into the
future. Although the architecture in the film is not representative of architecture
we should use today, it is valuable in representing the 1970's modern
architecture and Kubrick's idea of the future.
“Kubrick Himself is well known for having sourced a lot of his
inspiration from several existing architectural and design trends and concepts.
Today, terms like science fiction architecture or cyber architecture are
commonly used to refer to a new and modern style of architecture that draws
heavily on science fiction and new technologies. For many architects, science
fiction is an imaginative form of design, making its visualizations worth
studying.” [8]
In conclusion,
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