blade runner photos via filmgrab and butdoesitfloat
Blade runner is an obvious go to for sci fi architecture.
At face value the city is a heaving metropolis with an east Asian capitol city feel. A skyline filled with neon lights, skyscrapers and some sort of exhausted industrial effort. What may have once been sleek, is now run down and dirty. Everything swarms around in chaos. The ceilings are low and the spaces cluttered, creating a feeling of claustrophobia normal in poor living conditions; it all feels overworked and tired.
There's also hints of a film noire america, since Scott cites the painting Night Hawkes as a source. In my opinion this is more a direction for character and light but I suppose it's relevant in the set. But there is another side this; the upper class. Their buildings are monumental, classical and ordered. All of this reminds me of examples of geometric lead architecture in history;
The Ziggurat in Iran and Aztec Pyramid an almost exact match of Blade runner's monumental buildings.
Strangely enough the Vienna Secession group of artists and architects created in 1897, compiled of; Otto Wagner, Joseph Hoffman and Joseph Maria Olberich, also feel very similar.
Otto Wagner's church in Steinhof, and his love of clunky rectilinear shapes and columns, joseph hoffman's palais stoclet and most of all The Vienna Secession Hall by Joseph Maria Olberich; they all seem to hinted at in blade runner's pristine and sombre classical interiors
Frank Lloyd Wright hollywood houses in all their cement-stony glory also seem fitting.
Unlike the chaos in the city, the order and space in the more respectable buildings exaggerates the peacefulness; marking it out as a noticeable privilege. There is also no noise pollution and yet the stone creates echoes, emphasising how separated they are from the rest of the city. It's a bit eerie and strangely the minimalism is over indulgent.
But I can't help but feel that actually all of this is a lot more Albert Speery; a bit Hitler-y.
Especially with all the golden eagles, 1940s styled women and this blonde haired android;
i can't really see Ridley Scott putting that in his director's notes though.
Overall, it all comes together really well to create a believable and dramatic setting. All the shots in this film are beautiful and properly bring out the effects of the buildings. The fact that the style is not just shiny white boxes but things that resemble cultural ruins is even better and it's also easy to see how it all works together. Scott's vision of 2019's architecture might seem at first a bit ambitious but actually it's very similar to some of the weird stuff we've got today. And if you havn't seen Blade Runner watch it/ read it.
Blade runner is an obvious go to for sci fi architecture.
At face value the city is a heaving metropolis with an east Asian capitol city feel. A skyline filled with neon lights, skyscrapers and some sort of exhausted industrial effort. What may have once been sleek, is now run down and dirty. Everything swarms around in chaos. The ceilings are low and the spaces cluttered, creating a feeling of claustrophobia normal in poor living conditions; it all feels overworked and tired.
There's also hints of a film noire america, since Scott cites the painting Night Hawkes as a source. In my opinion this is more a direction for character and light but I suppose it's relevant in the set. But there is another side this; the upper class. Their buildings are monumental, classical and ordered. All of this reminds me of examples of geometric lead architecture in history;
The Ziggurat in Iran and Aztec Pyramid an almost exact match of Blade runner's monumental buildings.
Strangely enough the Vienna Secession group of artists and architects created in 1897, compiled of; Otto Wagner, Joseph Hoffman and Joseph Maria Olberich, also feel very similar.
Otto Wagner's church in Steinhof, and his love of clunky rectilinear shapes and columns, joseph hoffman's palais stoclet and most of all The Vienna Secession Hall by Joseph Maria Olberich; they all seem to hinted at in blade runner's pristine and sombre classical interiors
Frank Lloyd Wright hollywood houses in all their cement-stony glory also seem fitting.
Unlike the chaos in the city, the order and space in the more respectable buildings exaggerates the peacefulness; marking it out as a noticeable privilege. There is also no noise pollution and yet the stone creates echoes, emphasising how separated they are from the rest of the city. It's a bit eerie and strangely the minimalism is over indulgent.
But I can't help but feel that actually all of this is a lot more Albert Speery; a bit Hitler-y.
Especially with all the golden eagles, 1940s styled women and this blonde haired android;
i can't really see Ridley Scott putting that in his director's notes though.
Overall, it all comes together really well to create a believable and dramatic setting. All the shots in this film are beautiful and properly bring out the effects of the buildings. The fact that the style is not just shiny white boxes but things that resemble cultural ruins is even better and it's also easy to see how it all works together. Scott's vision of 2019's architecture might seem at first a bit ambitious but actually it's very similar to some of the weird stuff we've got today. And if you havn't seen Blade Runner watch it/ read it.
