Archinect - News

Inside the stunning Nordic hotel from Succession’s latest episode

2023-04-27T08:01:00-04:00

As the hit HBO series Succession reaches the midpoint of its final season, viewers of episode five’s Norwegian negotiations were treated to an architectural backdrop worthy of the show’s millions-strong audience. The Nordic eco-resort featured in the episode is in fact a seasoned pro in the film world, having previously been used as a prominent location in Alex Garland’s 2014 sci-fi thriller Ex Machina.

Still image from Succession, Series 4, Episode 5. Image credit: HBO

The building in question is the Juvet Landscape Hotel, which sits between the UNESCO world heritage Geiranger Fjord and the dramatic road and viewing point Trollstigen on the Nordic coast. Designed by Jensen & Skovdin Architects and completed in 2010, the 24-bed hotel is spread across seven minimalistic landscape rooms, two smaller ‘bird houses,’ and a four-bed ‘Skrivarstua’ or ‘Writer’s Lodge.’ Along a river bank, the hotel also features a bathhouse ...

Interior color schemes from iconic TV show set designs

2018-08-23T13:42:00-04:00

From the mid century modern world of Mad Men to the traditional English aristocratic look of Downton Abbey, the designs behind our favorite productions play a vital role in creating authentic backdrops viewers can delve into. Compare the Market and Neomam Studios have brought these set designs to the forefront by highlighting color schemes from some of the most iconic TV shows to air.

Take a look below at these familiar scenes with their accompanying color palettes:

Jerry's living room from Seinfeld

Don and Megan’s living room from Mad Men

The drawing room from Downton Abbey

Penny’s living room from Big Bang Theory

Ted, Marshall, Lily and Robin’s living room from How I Met Your Mother

Jess Day and roommates' living room from New Girl

Walt’s living room from Breaking Bad

Geek out to the architectural drawings used in classic sci-fi anime in this London exhibition

2017-08-07T15:45:00-04:00

Each of the settings on display in the exhibit capture that promise of the future balanced with the starkness of reality. The settings also celebrate a disappearing craft—hand-drawn animation. The anime industry long resisted the shift to computer-generated art that took hold in the West starting in the 1990s, but as technology has advanced, fewer and fewer artists practice the craft traditionally, making the art on display especially striking.

London's House of Illustration is currently displaying “Anime Architecture: Backgrounds of Japan”, an exhibition that showcases over 100 of the intricate paintings and drawings used in the production of iconic dystopian anime films like “Ghost in the Shell” and “Akira”.

An LA architect has recreated Kubrick's infamous "2001" bedroom scene

2017-03-30T13:01:00-04:00

Although the LACMA exhibition a few years ago featuring props from Stanley Kubrick's films was, as cineastes say, "nifty," there's something even niftier on view at The 14th Factory: an elaborately detailed, fully inhabitable set recreated from the still-powerful ending of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Architect Paul Kember worked with artist Simon Birch to put the set together.

Instead of gazing at individual pieces from the films, you can now essentially occupy the film in a completely new way. As Adam Woodward over at thespaces.com notes, "With its stark white walls, luminous floor and ornate Renaissance decor fit for Louis XVI, the room is instantly recognisable as the centrepiece of arguably the most pored-over ending in movie history. It’s also a superlative piece of set design." To visit, make sure to make reservations for tickets, selected by date and the time of day of your visit, through the website.

When art architects life: city from Bollywood film "Bahubali: The Beginning" may become actual location in India

2017-01-10T14:03:00-05:00

While the architecture in real cities has sometimes become the jumping off point for imaginary structures in cinema (think: the Los Angeles of Blade Runner) the reverse seems to be happening in India, where a filmmaker is being asked to design real structures based on the imagined buildings that appeared in his film. According to Quartz.com:

"Andhra Pradesh’s chief minister Chandrababu Naidu wants Rajamouli, the Telugu filmmaker behind the blockbuster Bahubali: The Beginning, to contribute his design skills to the architecture of the main government and administrative complex of Amaravati—the proposed capital of Naidu’s newly truncated state."

Here's a trailer for the film, which showcases the imagined city of Mahishmati:

Jørn Utzon's saga with the Sydney Opera house coming to the big screen

2016-06-08T13:12:00-04:00

With the working title Utzon, The Man Behind the Opera House, the film will tell the story of Danish architect Jørn Utzon, who was just 38 years old and relatively unknown when he won the international competition to design an opera house on Sydney’s Bennelong Point in 1957... The Sydney Opera House was completed by Australian architect Peter Hall – a handover which ostracised Hall from the architectural community, and which his family believe led to his ruin.

With a screenplay by Oscar-nominated Petter Skavlan, the film promises to get into some thorny emotional terrain. As producer Jan Marnell explains, “We have a world wonder. We have its creator – who wasn’t allowed to see his dream fulfilled. We have creativity versus bureaucracy and political manoeuvring ranging from friend to foe. We have an outstanding architect with streaks of megalomania and genius, and his vengeful opponents who plot to get him out of the country. What do they want? In the end, they want to take back what they believe should have been theirs in the first place.”

What else is going on with the Sydney Opera house?

The real-life architecture of "Ex Machina"

2015-05-28T10:29:00-04:00

Whether you think Alex Garland's film "Ex Machina" is a mind-bending classic or a future camp hit (the Dancing Scene, anybody?), one thing is certain: the architecture of the real-life Hotel Juvet is stunning. Designed by Jensen & Skovdin Architects, the hotel is located in northwestern Norway near the town of Andalsnes in a place known as Valldal.

The Hotel Juvet has been designed to feature the splendor of the neighboring mountains and rushing river: each of the distinctive nine rooms features at least two walls made entirely of glass to give the best possible views. Additionally, no one room looks into another, creating a sense of privacy while immersing guests in nature.

The officially branded "landscape hotel" was designed and built in two principal stages: seven rooms and a spa building were erected in 2010, while an additional two rooms were added by 2013. The plan, which allows a total of up to 28 rooms to be built, was created with sustainability in mind. Conservation author...