Architecture of

Science Fiction
Is architecture in science fiction films merely inspired by the
present, or does it truly show us the future?

Gemma Border - B049988

Architecture Dissertation
Dissertation submitted for the degree of Master of Arts with Honours
Architecture at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, 2017.
Dedication

I would like to acknowledge the kind generosity and the assistance of my

academic tutor Andrew Connor, along with the support of my parents.
A b s tra c t
Science fiction has always had as much to do with our present as our
future. This essay shows how the architecture of science fiction films
can act as a critique of contemporary architecture and our society’s
approach to it, but goes on to look at the extent to which it can both
influence and anticipate the future of design. The subject was explored
by examining the way architecture is used in numerous science
fiction films with reference to the history of real-world architecture,
researching what directors and production designers have said about
their influences, and studying relevant literature. What emerges is
how science fiction not only draws on our architectural past but feeds
into real-world architecture, in a cyclical process which occasionally
gives us a true glimpse of what our built environment may look like
in years to come.
figure 1: The Fifth Element, film still, showing New York cityscape 23rd century
C o n te n ts Pa g e
1-5 Introduction
6-7 Literature Review
8-11 Methodology
12-21 Chapter 1
22-31 Chapter 2
32-41 Chapter 3
42-49 Chapter 4
50-52 Conclusion
53-58 Footnotes
59-61 Image References
62-65 Bibliography
 figure 2: Voyage Dans La Lune, film poster
1
In tro d u c t i on
The Science Fiction Genre
Science fiction first emerged in 19th century literature in response to the rapid
transformations of the industrial revolution. However, most would argue it
wasn’t fully established as a genre until the 20th century, sparked by fast-paced
technological innovation.1 While science fiction literature is now well established
in its own right, following the broad scale commercialization of cinema in the
1930s science fiction has been even more widely popularized through films.
Today it is one of the most profitable cinematic genres, with six of the top 10
highest grossing films of all time being science fiction movies, although it must
be noted that five of these are from the Star Wars series alone. This wide scale
popularity not only affects the film industry but has a broader effect on society
as a whole. This dissertation will discuss the role of architecture within the
science fiction film genre and focus on how it draws from or influences our real
built landscapes and approach to design.

Architecture in Cinema
The significance of architecture in cinema is, of course, not exclusive to the
genre of science fiction. The emergence of film in the 20th century allowed
for the spread of stories, as well as social and political ideas, not only on a
broader scale but also at a much faster pace than ever before. This cinematic
propagation allowed for the spread of new architectural styles and ideologies
on a global scale. Before cinema the display of new designs was restricted to
world fairs, architectural expositions and magazines, but films had viewings in
the range of 50 million a year by the 1930s, and over 50 million now attend the
cinema on a weekly basis.2

It was during the 1920s when cinema was becoming increasingly prolific
that architectural design started to be given greater prominence within film,
with directors using it to assist a plot’s grounding and narrative. The use of
cinema to portray and promote discussions on an architectural style was
first demonstrated by the modernist architectural movement in the 1930s
and 1940s. Modernists utilized spatial design within film to experiment with
architectural language and demonstrate their modern, minimal style on a
broader scale.

2
 figure 3: What a Widow! film still showing modernist design

An early prominent example of this was in the film What a Widow! (1930)
whose production designer, architect Paul Nelson, utilized the film’s set to
develop and display his modernist architectural style inspired by Le Corbusier,
which at the time was restricted to experimental architecture in Europe or the
dwellings of the wealthy within cities.3 Sadly this picture is now accounted
as a ‘lost’ film, as there are no longer any known copies in private or public
archives. Cinema has long been used not just to show-case but to critique
contemporary architecture, from Metropolis (1927) which reflects concerns
about monolithic skyscrapers, to A Clockwork Orange (1971) which explored
the idea of how Brutalist architecture could lead to a more violent culture, using
the Thamesmead South Housing Estate outside London as its setting.4

figure 4: A Clockwork Orange, film still showing the Thamesmead Housing Estate
3
Architecture in Science Fiction Films
It is the role of architecture in science fiction films that is the focus of this
essay, as the genre of science fiction takes the use of architecture several
steps further. Architecture within science fiction films can be said to play three
roles. First, cinematic spatial design analyses contemporary architectural
developments and how the public reacts to specific buildings or styles. Second,
it is an arena to try out new aesthetics or theories, both in terms of spatial and
environmental design and in terms of gauging public perception of those ideas
and assessing how they may work in a society or culture. Finally, sci-fi films free
designers from the constraints of what is currently possible in technological
terms and allows them to push the limits of imagination and explore the
apparently impossible, effectively proposing the architecture of the future.

figure 5: Metropolis, photograph of set under construction

The value added to a film by the skilful and considered use of architecture
has even propelled the advancement of cinematic design and techniques,
particularly in the science fiction context. Metropolis capitalised on new
technologies such as moving cameras and superimposition to allow for
the realization of its futuristic city.5 Fifty years later, the first real Computer
Generated Imagery (CGI) company, Industrial Light and Magic, was set up by
George Lucas specifically for the production of the Star Wars series, to create a
fully envisioned digital world. The move from vast wooden structures to digitally
constructed and rendered environments has only increased the prominence
of architectural design in science fiction films and enhanced their subsequent
impact on contemporary architecture.

4
 Structure
This essay begins with a review of the literature currently available on the topics
of architecture in cinema, and science fiction and cinema, and will discuss the
most common arguments and theories being discussed about the architecture
of science fiction films. The literature review also references research papers,
dissertations, websites and video blogs on the topic, as film is a fast-moving
industry and there is limited published literature especially concerning movies
and architectural projects of the last few years or months. The methodology
section sets out some of the key quantitative data from the research and some
of the qualitative critical approaches used with regards to different styles of sci-fi
architecture, and common themes and concerns explored in science fiction
films.

The main argument of this essay will be separated into four chapters which
will each evaluate a different aspect of the topic title. The first chapter, Science
Fiction Architecture Uses the Familiar, will discuss the use of real architectural
structures in science fiction films as a means to portray a fictional world at the
scale of a building. This will refer to the use of Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture
in a variety of films and how the architectural language of the buildings
contributes to the films. Chapter Two, Science Fiction Architecture Builds on
the Familiar, will discuss movies which use real-world and familiar architecture
as a basis for futuristic set design at the scale of the city. It discusses why these
films utilize real life architecture or an amalgamation of different architectural
styles as a basis for their creations.

The third chapter, Science Fiction Architecture Challenges the Familiar, will
discuss how the architecture of science fiction films allows architects to
question their current approaches, theories and aesthetic styles, and how it has
been doing this over the modern period. The chapter will explore how science
fiction films have driven architects and designers to respond differently to their
briefs and their environments by influencing their designs. Lastly, Chapter
Four, Science Fiction Architecture Shows the Future, will evaluate how the
architecture of science fiction films is inspiring architects and scientists alike to
push the boundaries of what is currently being designed and what we currently
believe to be possible. As Elon Musk said of his plans for the terraforming and
habitation of Mars, “aspiration within the realm of possibility.”6

5
L i te r a t u r e Re vie w
a. Literature on Cinema and Architecture
Literature concerning cinema - its production, effects and its role within society
- is extensive in both its breadth of study and its depth of analysis. As an
aspect of this there has been fairly expansive research produced on the topic
of architecture within film, with most of this literature focused around modernist
architecture in cinema. Donald Albrecht discusses the symbiotic relationship
between architecture and film in his book Designing Dreams and provides
an in-depth study of modernism’s role within cinema design from the 1920s
onwards, whilst also writing on the science fiction films Metropolis and Things
to Come which are particularly relevant for this essay.7 Film Architecture,
edited by Dietrich Neumann, likewise discusses the relevance of architecture
within cinema, beginning in the 1920s with Metropolis and modernism;
however it extends its scope to the 1980s and discusses the role which
architecture plays in Blade Runner (1982) at length.8

In terms of architecture specifically within the science fiction genre, there is

less written, however there are interesting arguments and a fair amount of
material. These generally discuss how science fiction is always inspired by the
familiar, whilst arguments generally suggest that these films are an important
commentary on contemporary architecture. Often reference is given to films
such as Blade Runner and Star Wars, which were both genre defining,
although for different reasons. Many also discuss the production design of Alien
(1979) and its sequels, with analysis of H R Giger’s designs with reference to
his background in architecture. Building Sci-Fi Moviescapes is a book by Matt
Hanson which focuses solely on this genre, and covers all manner of more
recent science fiction films from Blade Runner to I, Robot in 2004. Its research
on the Fifth Element and Minority Report is particularly informative due to
inside knowledge of the films’ development.9 Adventures in Space is a less
in-depth book published by The Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland
and, although a lighter read, it covers design within science fiction from 1818 to
2014 with a wide range of information and case studies.10

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 b. Literature on science fiction cinema
There is extensive literature on science fiction cinema, particularly its
advancement during the last quarter of the 20th century and its increasing
importance as a genre. Arguments typically discuss the evolution of science
fiction from a fringe genre to a main stream one and discuss the advantages
and disadvantages of this. Science Fiction Cinema by Geoff King and Tanya
Krzywinska is a good example.11 Furthermore, authors also debate the role
which science fiction film plays on the progression of science and technology
in the real world, and the effects that this is having, as in Brian David Johnson’s
article ‘Science Fiction Prototyping’.12 Alien Zone and Alien Zone II: The
Spaces of Science Fiction Cinema edited by Annette Kuhn discuss a broad
range of related topics such as the effect of internet fandom on the Star Wars
series and the identity of motherhood within Alien. Particularly relevant to this
essay is her research into city spaces in science fiction, discussing the politics
of race and class and their vertical stratification within the cityscape.13

c. Alternative sources of research

One of the draw backs about writing a dissertation on such a contemporary
topic is that the amount of published literature on the subject is limited. Whilst
there is a broad range of literature concerning films from the beginning of
cinema in the 19th century to the 1980s, from there the material dwindles. The
majority of books on which this essay draws were published during the 1990s
and early 2000s, whilst only one of them has been published in the last 10
years. To put this in perspective, all of the highest grossing science fiction films
have been made during this period, from 2007 up to 2017.14 This dissertation
examines numerous science fiction films which have been produced over
the last decade, and therefore alternative sources, such as published journal
articles, research papers and dissertations, have been considered and
referenced.

Increasingly, contemporary thoughts and ideas are not written down and
published but discussed and shared across the internet. As this dissertation
examines some very recent developments in film and architecture, relevant
discussions in online articles and journals also form an important part of the
research. This is particularly pertinent in the last chapter, which cites references
to architecture projects in the last few years, including one in the last few weeks
of writing.

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M e t h o d o l og y
a) Quantitative Analysis
Popularity of science fiction films
The huge success of Star Wars established the genre as one for popular
audiences and paved the way for a subsequent succession of other big-budget
science fiction action films marketed to a mainstream audience.15 During the
seven years following the release of Star Wars in 1977, around 250 films and
television films in the science fiction genre were produced globally.16 Other
significant statistics used to assess the popularity of sci-film films and hence
their potential influence on architecture and modern popular culture include:

Six of the top 10 highest grossing films worldwide have been science
fiction films, as at January 2017.17
Five of the top 10 highest grossing science fiction films worldwide have
been produced in the last 10 years, two in the last 20, one in the last 30,
and two in the last 40.18
In 1995, science fiction movies held 6% of the market share of box office
sales, in 2015 that number reached as high as 26%.19

Seminal science fiction novels referenced:

1887 Looking Backward, Edward Bellamy
1898 The War of the Worlds, H.G. Wells
1910 The Sleeper Awakes, H.G. Wells
1933 The Shape of Things to Come, H.G. Wells
1950 Eagle comics (featuring Dan Dare, running until 1969), Frank Hampson
1979 The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
1998 Islands in the Net, Bruce Sterling

Science fiction films used as case studies (in chronological order):

1927 Metropolis, Fritz Lang
1936 Things to Come, William Cameron Menzies
1971 TNX 1138, George Lucas
1973 Sleeper, Woody Allen
1982 Blade Runner, Ridley Scott
1986 Aliens, James Cameron
1997 Gattaca, Andrew Niccol
1997 The Fifth Element, Luc Besson
2002 Minority Report, Steven Spielberg
2013 Star Trek Into Darkness, JJ Abrams
2014 Big Hero 6, Don Hall & Chris Williams
2015 The Martian, Ridley Scott
2016 Passengers, Morten Tyldum
8
 Science fiction films referenced (in chronological order):
1930 What a Widow!, Allan Dwan & Dudley Murphy
1966 Star Trek (TV series to 1988), created by Gene Rodenberry
1968 2001: A Space Odyssey, Stanley Kubrick
1971 A Clockwork Orange, Stanley Kubrick
1977 Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, George Lucas
1979 Alien, Ridley Scott
1979 Mad Max, George Miller
1980 Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, George Lucas
1983 Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, George Lucas
1989 Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death, J.F. Lawton
1989 Back to the Future Part II, Robert Zemeckis
1994 Babylon 5 (TV series to 1998) created by Michael Straczynski
1995 Ghost in the Shell, Mamoru Oshii
1995 Waterworld, Kevin Reynolds
1997 Men in Black, Barry Sonnenfeld
1999 eXistenZ, David Cronenberg
1999 The Matrix, Lana & Lilly Wachowski
2001 AI: Artificial Intelligence, Steven Spielberg
2002 Solaris, Steven Soderbergh
2003 Code 46, Michael Winterbottom
2004 I Robot, Alex Proyas
2007 Transformers, Michael Bay
2009 District 9, Neill Blomkamp
2009 Stark Trek, JJ Abrams
2009 Avatar, James Cameron
2012 Cloud Atlas, Lana & Lily Wachowski
2013 Gravity, Alfonso Cuarón
2013 Interstellar, Christopher Nolan
2014 Divergent, Neil Burger
2014 Guardians of the Galaxy, James Gunn
2014 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, Francis Lawrence
2015 Ex Machina, Alex Garland
2016 Arrival, Denis Villeneuve
2016 Star Trek Beyond, Justin Lin

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b) Qualitative Analysis (Critical Approaches)

Different styles of sci-fi architecture

A broad definition of ‘science fiction’ films is used in this dissertation,
covering three generally accepted categories: Realism, Fantasy, and
Intellectual.20 Realism includes films such as Gravity, Fantasy includes films
such as Guardians of the Galaxy, and Intellectual includes films such as Ex
Machina. Science fiction architecture however is typically divided into four
categories: Futuristic, Retro, Dystopian and Modernist,21 although certain
critics, such as the authors of Science Fiction Cinema, argue for a more
exacting categorisation: Futuristic, Retro Futuristic, Realism, Gothic and Post-
apocalyptic.22 This essay will discuss science fiction architecture with reference
to the following styles:

Futuristic
This style is very clearly portrayed in films such as Star Trek, Cloud Atlas, and
Minority Report, with their clean, digital designs utilizing colour palettes of white
and chrome.

Retro Futuristic
Retro Futuristic is a polymorphous style, incorporating old-fashioned design
from numerous different periods with futuristic technology, as clearly depicted
in Blade Runner.23 24 Blade Runner is famously designed to be deliberately
confusing, clearly set within a dystopian future but with an aesthetic more
reminiscent of the past. Gattaca also demonstrates the Retro Futuristic style by
drawing inspiration from classical Bauhaus designs of the 1930s.25

Realism
This is apparent in films such as Gravity, The Martian and Ex Machina, where
the technology and design of the physical landscape is contemporary and
grounded in scientific what is scientifically possible today.

Dystopic
Films such as Mad Max and Water World depict dystopian futures: worlds
ravaged by nuclear war and climate change which have turned to sand and sea
respectively.26

Organic
Often the films from the Alien trilogy are incorporated into one of the above
categories, however, as much of the architecture within these films is not
perceived as something static, but a bionic structure - half mechanical, half
living – it merits its own category.

10
 Common Themes and Concerns
There is a common theme of hierarchy through vertical stratification which is
often integral to science fiction cityscapes. This theme is rooted in the genre,
due to the existence of a similar vertical class structure already in place when
science fiction emerged in the late 1800’s. This structure can be seen in
Edinburgh’s old town tenements, where rooms above were reserved for the
wealthy, and below for the working class and servants, a structure mirrored
across the cities of Europe.27 This existing class divide was first captured in film
by Metropolis, as Lang’s cityscape exaggerated the vertical progression of New
York into a multi-layered social construct.28 The same theme can be found in
Blade Runner, The Fifth Element, Minority Report, Cloud Atlas and Ghost in
the Shell. It is both a critique of our current cityscapes and on a wider scale a
critique of how political hierarchies and capitalism prevent social mobility, shown
in metaphor through architecture.29 A similarly common theme is digital control
of the cityscape. This is explored in A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Minority Report,
I Robot, and The Matrix.30 These films reflect current concerns about living in a
digital world, including fear of government surveillance and control.

figure 6: Ghost in the Shell (1995), film still showing vertical hierarchy

Science fiction films are often cultural touch stones of the events of their time,
examining current social fears, often related to technology or environmental
concerns. This begins as early as the 1920s, as Fritz Lang used Metropolis to
explore contemporary political fears of communism and fascism and economic
fears of global depression.31 Advancements in space travel technology led to
the production of films such as 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and Solaris
(1972) which explored concerns about space travel and artificial intelligence.32
The more recent development of Virtual Reality and the increasing prominence
of video games in the 1990s led to the production of films like The Matrix
(1999) and eXistenZ (1995) which reflect fears about blurred boundaries
between simulated and real environments.33

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 Chapter 1

Science Fiction
Architecture
Uses the Familiar

“A film set forty years hence, made in the style of forty years ago”
Ridley Scott, on Blade Runner 34

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12
 Introduction
Architecture is fundamentally used within film to assist in the grounding of
a narrative, symbolizing a time and a place, though sometimes it is used
by directors to function as a vision in itself.35 Although cinema is generally
associated with studios, frequently real-world buildings are used instead, even
in science fiction films. Real buildings provide films with authenticity, as these
solid structures provide credibility to a film’s futuristic world.

There are some buildings and architects which are regularly featured in science
fiction cinema. Frank Lloyd Wright is one such architect, whose buildings
can be seen in several science fiction films from 1981 up to the last decade,
including TNX 1138, Gattaca and Men in Black. The buildings chosen
showcase Wright’s design style which is more an individual expression than a
demonstration of a particular movement. Although utilizing stylistic aspects of
modernism, Wright did not shy away from borrowing the architectural language
of a number of movements.36 It is perhaps this singular diversion from the
more recognizable architectural styles of the past that allows for his work to be
perceived as one from the future. Wright’s 1950s civic buildings are reminiscent
of European modernists such as Le Corbusier, whilst his Californian residences
of the 1920s display bold use of geometric pattern at odds with modernist
minimalism. These two quite contrasting styles are employed to portray different
futures, and are featured within science fiction films to different effects.

figure 7: Marin County Civic Centre, Frank Lloyd Wright, 1962

Frank Lloyd Wright - Marin County Civic Centre

The 20th century saw the rise of the Modernist movement, developed by its
founders as a force for societal change, creating rational, efficient designs for a
contemporary world.37 The European modernist style focused on ‘form follows
function’ minimalism, coming from Le Corbusier’s ‘machine for living’ dictum
where architecture was stripped to its essentials. Wright’s style however is more
unique due to its unconventional geometries, and is recognizable for his use of
interior open planning, tectonic minimalism and use of strong horizontal planes.
This layering of horizontals - long low walls, flat roofs and verandas - give the
appearance of weightlessness and provides the aesthetic of asymmetrical
38
floating planes. The addition of long horizontal window panes gives the
suggestion of direction of movement, which is reminiscent of factory assembly
lines.39 It is perhaps these architectural effects, and Wright’s own world-famous
status as an architect, that lends his buildings to use in science fiction films.
13
However, it is not Wright’s earlier more iconic work that is most commonly used
in science fiction films but his later work, which is often criticised as lacking the
architectural prowess of his earlier work. Some of his later designs, such as the
Guggenheim Museum in New York completed in 1959, have been described
as ‘lifeless’ and having no ‘material expression’, while the Marin County Civic
Centre, designed by Wright but completed in 1962 after his death, has been
criticized for its ‘laboured geometry and feeble profiles.’40 It is this building
which sets the stage for two dystopic futures, filmed 26 years apart. George
Lucas’s 1971 TNX 1138 illustrates a futuristic society set within a uniform
and antiseptic environment, where the suppression of emotion through drugs
ensures a controlled society. TNX’s architecture is defined by its minimalism,
as it is completely devoid of anything symbolic of memory or identity in either
the architecture or interiors. This sterile environment is therefore used by the
director to mimic the empty soul of the society.41 The film’s narrative suggests
that the uniform and clinical built environment has contributed to the barren
culture.42 This ‘failure’ of modernist architecture is expressed in the film
through the decay and graffiti saturating the walls and the perpetually broken
elevators.43

figure 8: TNX 1138, film still showing Marin County Civic Centre

figure 9: TNX 1138, film still showing graffiti

14
 figures 10/11: TNX 1138/Gattaca, film stills showing surveillance inside Marin County Civic Centre

Wright’s Marin County Civic Centre is also used in 1997’s Gattaca for similar
reasons. Here a futuristic society is rendered uniform and synthetic due to
genetic manipulation, which has led to a society divided between ‘valid’ test
tube babies and the ‘invalid’ or ‘de-gene-erate’.44 Gattaca’s retro-futurist set
utilizes the Bauhaus modernist style for its interiors and furniture, giving it a
corporate aesthetic of banality.45 The bland perfectionism that is a theme of the
narrative is reflected in the architectural spaces, with clean interiors devoid of
individual character and spaces of mindless uniformity. Here Wright’s central
atrium plays a key role, as the restricted escalators and circulation spaces
imbue a sense of control and surveillance which is developed in Gattaca’s
narrative. In both of these films the goal of the protagonists within this building
is to escape; Wright’s Civic Centre is thereby totalitarianism expressed as
architecture. The fact that Wright’s later work has frequently been chosen as the
backdrop for dystopic films is clearly an indictment of the lack of human appeal
in these buildings, particularly the Civic Center. They have been chosen not for
their architectural triumph but rather for their failure.

figure 12: Gattaca, film still showing circulation control inside Marin County Civic Centre
figure 13 (right): Marin County Civic Centre
15
16
 Frank Lloyd Wright - Ennis House
Whilst Frank Lloyd Wright’s later architecture focused on minimalism, drawing
inspiration from the European modernist movement, his 1920s style was much
more ornamental in its expression and was instead inspired by the indigenous
architecture of Central and South American cultures.46 This style was coined
in Wright’s residential houses in southern California, the first of which was
the Hollyhock House completed in 1921. In this architectural language, we
still see the strong horizontals, flat roofs and upper terraces of his more
modernist expression; however it is made much more decorative through the
incorporation of Mayan geometric patterns. Although maintaining a similar open
plan interior, Wright’s change from the open expression of overhanging roofs to
the enclosure of outer walls articulates an atmosphere of isolation.47 This style is
a unique blend of glamorous and mysterious, as the patterned concrete blocks
provide the interiors with dispersed light and an exotic atmosphere.48 The
Hollyhock House was used for these reasons in 1989’s Cannibal Women in the
Avocado Jungle of Death, but that is a movie perhaps best forgotten.49

figure 14: Hollyhock House, Frank Lloyd Wright, 1921

figure 15: Ennis House, Frank Lloyd Wright, 1924

17
 figure 16: Ennis House interior

However, Wright’s Mayan-minimalism is most notably portrayed and

remembered in Blade Runner, where the Ennis House was used as the model
for the home of the movie’s protagonist, Deckard. From the beginning of the
film’s production, director Ridley Scott was opposed to the idea of a singular
architectural style, instead envisioning a post-modern stylistic assault on the
eyes. This resulted in the film’s range of aesthetics from Egyptian grandeur and
Art Deco style high-rises to streamlined modernist skyscrapers, as this imagery
was overlaid to create an appearance that was ‘richly carved’.50 This approach
explains the incorporation of the Ennis building, as Wright’s combination
of modernist language with exotic ancient pattern has resulted in a unique
architectural expression. The building’s scale and decorative style evokes a
civilization about to slide from hubris to decay, of a grand utopian fantasy just
before its collapse.51

figure 17: Blade Runner, film still showing Deckard’s apartment

figure 18: Blade Runner, film still showing Deckard’s apartment

18
 Other notable examples
Another Californian building featured in Blade Runner is Los Angeles’s
Bradbury Building, used in the film as the interior of the apartment of JF
Sebastian (the reclusive maker of replicants for the Tyrell Corporation).
Interestingly, this building’s link to science fiction stretches back to its
construction in 1893, as its architectural design was inspired by Edward
Bellamy’s science fiction novel Looking Backward.52 Architect George Herbert
Wyman’s design of the atrium was inspired by Bellamy’s 1887 description of “a
vast hall full of light” which was not lit solely by traditional windows but instead
by “the dome, the point of which was a hundred feet above”.53 This example
serves to demonstrate the cyclical process of how the science fiction genre can
inform the design of architecture, which then goes on to inspire future iterations
in the genre.

figure 19: Blade Runner, film still showing Sebastian’s apartment complex

figure 20: Bradbury Building, George Herbert, 1893

19
 figure 21: Sculptured House, Charles Deaton, 1963

This cyclical process can also be seen in the relationship between film and
structure in Woody Allen’s science fiction comedy Sleeper, first shown in 1973.
Featuring the tagline “Woody Allen takes a nostalgic look at the future,” it is
fitting that one of the film’s sets (the headquarters of the rebel scientists) Charles
Deaton’s Sculptured House, was constructed over 10 years before the film’s
production.54 This residential building was an experiment in curved concrete
form by Deaton, who believed that architecture should move away from
square designs, as ‘our future houses will be shaped by the way we feel about
them’.55 The building’s streamlined interiors create the perception of a future
aesthetic with an integration of furniture, appliances and services. The reality is
unfortunately more prosaic, as it was due to the architect’s bankruptcy that the
interiors were left unfinished until its sale at the turn of the century. Despite its
incompletion, the house’s unusual cylindrical elevator was left functioning and
inspired Allen’s ‘orgasmatron’, the function of which is implied by the name.
Just as the individual style of the building influenced the film’s futuristic setting,
the film has in turn impacted the architecture. Recent renovation carried out by
interior designer Charlee Deaton (daughter to Charles) includes retrofitting the
elevator to the design of the film, though the purpose is altered with the addition
of a robot who pours drinks.56

figures 22/23: Sleeper, film stills showing Miles’ comedic escape

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 Chapter Summation
Both the Marin County Civic Centre and the Ennis House demonstrate Frank
Lloyd Wright’s individual aesthetic and his post-modern layering of different
architectural language. Although their architecture is non-traditional, as real and
familiar buildings they provide authenticity to the science fiction films in which
they are used. However, it is inevitable that this use also becomes a critique of
the architecture in turn. It must be acknowledged that there are many practical
elements which attribute to the use of these buildings, such as sheer scale,
functional emptiness and a geometry which lends to good camera angles.
What is also clear, however, is how their particular design styles serve as a more
elaborate commentary on the modernist movement itself, as seen in TNX 1138
and Gattaca. What emerges from this research is not only how familiar, real-
world architecture is used in science fiction films, but how science fiction can
feed back into real world architecture.

figure 24: Men in Black, film still outside the Guggenheim

figure 25: Men in Black, film still inside the Guggenheim

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 Chapter 2

Science Fiction
Architecture
Builds on the Familiar

“We don’t go into the future from zero, we drag the whole past in with us”
Syd Mead, concept designer of Blade Runner 57

22
 Introduction
Although individual buildings can be directly utilised within science fiction
films with believability, a cityscape has to be more carefully conceived and
constructed. These cityscapes are sometimes recognizably founded in an
existing city, such as New York in The Fifth Element or London in Star Trek,
Into Darkness, whilst sometimes narratives lead to the creation of a fictional
metropolis, incorporating recognizable traits of several different cities, such as
Blade Runner’s layering of Los Angeles, New York, Shanghai and Hong Kong.
This chapter will analyse how, at the scale of the city, science fiction architecture
must build on the familiar for the creation of their landscapes.

Science fiction has long been preoccupied with the grand, as the descriptive
imagery in HG Wells’ 1910 novel The Sleeper Awakes reveals. Here the
protagonist’s first thoughts upon awakening 200 years in the future is of
“overwhelming architecture”, with “Titanic buildings curving spaciously” with a
canopy of glass and cantilever beams so large as to “shut out the sky.”58 Well’s
description of a futuristic city was first portrayed in a physical form within a film
in 1927’s Metropolis, although this portrayal resulted in his exclaiming “I have
recently seen the silliest film.”59

figures 26/27: The Sleeper Awakes, book illustrations

23
The Iconic Metropolis
When discussing the great cityscapes of science fiction cinema, it is impossible
to exclude Metropolis, as it is described as “the first great achievement of the
science fiction cinema (whose) atmosphere and visual style… were to influence
the concept of virtually every filmic portrayal of the future for many years to
come”.60 Within the film the role of architecture cannot be understated, as the
city not only functions as the narrative’s grounding, but is in fact the central
theme from which the narrative evolves, hence the film’s name. Metropolis’s
skyline draws its physical appearance primarily from New York: the film’s writer
Fritz Lang was dazzled by its skyscrapers and Art Deco architecture61 when
he arrived on his maiden voyage to American in October 1924.62 At the time,
the New York skyline had the three tallest buildings in the world, the Woolworth
Building, the Metropolitan Life Tower and the Singer Building.63 Metropolis’s
addition of airborne transportation links, elevated rail networks and vast
highways are notably inspirations from the work of architect Antonio Sant’Elia
and his Manifesto of Futurist Architecture published in 1914.64

figure 28: Metropolis, set painting

24
 figures 29/30: Antonio Sant’Elia, futurist designs 1914

However, in addition to its aesthetic inspirations the cityscape draws much of

its segmentation from political and socio-economic phenomenon not exclusive
to architecture. As stated by Geoff King in Science Fiction Cinema, the
architecture is fundamental “to the film’s critique of the alienating and inhuman
qualities of capitalism.”65 Metropolis clearly evokes layers of vertical separation,
both physically, metaphorically and allegorically. The narrative rotates around
class by vertical strata, with the elites cocooned in their sky scrapers whilst
the proletariat toil in the soot of the city’s industrial base.66 This architectural
realization of class politics builds on contemporary concerns, as Metropolis
was written amid growing instability, both politically and economically in Weimar
Germany, and Fritz Lang’s narrative of vertical separation is an allegory for his
fears of class warfare.67

figure 31: Metropolis, film still showing elevated transportation

25
 figure 32: New York, photograph showing Woolworth & Singer buildings, 1920s

Furthermore, Metropolis speaks of concerns of urbanization and modernism.

For example, in New York concern about large monolithic buildings restricting
light and air to the common people in the streets below led to the 1916 Zoning
Resolution.68 Lang’s visualization of the working class as mechanized cogs, all
trapped in the machine of the city, is a commentary on what un-constrained
industrialization and urban sprawl could result in, evolved from increased fears
of technology that emerged with mass production in the early 20th century.69
Metropolis’s futuristic city design is iconic not only for its creative architectural
design, but also as an example of how science fiction films function as cultural
touchstones for a society’s contemporary fears.70 Generated from both equal
parts of fear and excitement, the iconic depiction of the vertical city and its
associated metaphors have continued to feature in science fiction films and are
still just as present and provocative in contemporary blockbusters as they were
in 1927.

figure 33: Metropolis, film still showing city ‘machine’

26
 The Amalgamated City
An example of a relatively modern but equally genre-defining film which utilizes
Metropolis’s vertical stratification is Blade Runner (1982), in which the head of
the Tyrell Corporation resides in a clean, modern monolithic building while much
of the population lives in a steamy, dirty, decaying urban jungle. However its
setting differs from the sterile and synthetic appearance of many science fiction
films due to its overwhelming use of colour, structure, pattern and geometric
noise.71 The familiarity of the setting comes from Warner Brothers’ classic ‘Old
New York City Street’ set, which was then layered with neon signs, pipes and
all manner of cultural debris.72 The amalgamation of revival architecture styles
alongside modern skyscrapers and tower blocks results in a cosmopolitan
and radically diverse cityscape. The Retro Futuristic style is what allows for the
believable interjection of the futuristic elements, not seemingly out of place.73
The desire for an ‘east-meets-west’ metropolis resulted in the production
designers drawing architectural language from across the world: “I just brought
in my entire architectural research library” as one remembers.74

figure 34: Blade Runner, film still showing diverse cityscape

figure 35: Blade Runner, concept art by Syd Mead

27
The east-meets-west style is not exclusive to dystopic science fiction however,
as demonstrated by the city of San Fransokyo in Disney’s Big Hero 6. This
animated super hero movie is set in a futuristic amalgam of San Francisco
and Tokyo, two cities which are iconic on their own continents as hubs of
technological development.75 The film’s design was inspired by science fiction
Manga, such as Ghost in the Shell, and has a Retro Futuristic style reminiscent
of Blade Runner.76

figure 36: Big Hero 6, film still showing San Fransokyo

An amalgamation of past and future styles can also be used on a more intimate
scale. The iconic aesthetic of a New York Art Deco bar has been used in the
recent science fiction release Passengers for quite a specific effect, as the bar
is set in a mega starship. The bold use of colour, pattern and ornamentation
in the bar is at odds with the ship’s futuristic architectural style of clean
geometries, double height spaces, gently curving partitions and palettes of
chrome and white. Envisioned as a ‘Jewellery Box’, the familiarity and busyness
of the décor was designed to bring warmth and intimacy to the room and so
assist in the plot’s romantic narrative.77 Production designer Guy Hendrix Dyas
encapsulates this in an interview, affirming “Why alienate people? Let them feel
like they are at home, design it like a New York bar”.78

figure 37: Passengers, film still showing art deco bar set
28
The Evolved City
In contrast to Metropolis’s indirect portrayal of New York, the cityscape
depicted in 1995’s The Fifth Element is a direct evolution of the real
city. Set sometime during the 23rd century, the lowered ocean level and
structural excavation down into Manhattan Island has led to further vertical
stratification of the cityscape, which lends itself to multiple layers of vertical
transportation.79 Similarly to Metropolis, the film’s architecture draws on the
vertical transportation links of Sant’Elia’s designs along with the iconic Art
Deco architecture of New York.80 However the inclusion of real 1960s high-rise
apartment blocks contributes to a more contemporarily recognizable futuristic
vision within The Fifth Element. Here New York’s transportation system is
designed at odds with that of Metropolis, as there is no visible sky nor ground
but rather a confusing web of solid structures, void and perpetual motion.81

figure 38: The Fifth Element, film still showing cityscape with brooklyn bridge

figure 37: What a Widow set image

This density through layering can be attributed to the film’s Director Luc
Besson, who was tired of the clichéd dark, dystopic landscapes of science
fiction films and instead craved a ‘cheerfully crazy’ setting, which he
accomplished by employing comic book illustrators as production designers.
The architecture was fabricated from the layering of iconic New York styles such
as the Chicago-style high-rises, Federal Style buildings, Art Deco skyscrapers
and brutalist blocks. It was this study of New York’s historic architectural
development and analysis of current design developments on which the
production designers founded their futuristic designs. As Besson affirmed
whilst being interviewed, “Cities will evolve in the future, but they will build on
what is already there.”82 The narrative of the film lends it to perspective camera
shots, and the design delivers a seemingly endless cityscape, however it is the
familiarity of the architecture that underpins it which allows for the believability of
this futuristic city.
 Other notable examples
This logical progression of future architecture built on existing cities can be
seen in a variety of contemporary science fiction films. Steven Spielberg’s
brief to Alex McDowell, production designer for Minority Report (2002), was
for a city familiar to what we see today, however recognizably futuristic. The
cityscape of Washington DC is still recognizable within the movie through
glimpses of its more iconic structures and federal buildings, whilst future design
is incorporated with dramatic vertical expansion, and expansive use of white
and chrome mimics the tropes of contemporary design.83 Similarly, JJ Abram’s
2013 Star Trek, Into Darkness uses London as its setting, its futuristic skyline
recognizable due to the inclusion of iconic structures such as the Shard, the
Gherkin, and St. Paul’s Cathedral. As Roger Guyett, supervisor of the film’s
special effects explains, the intention was to “maintain the real geography of
(contemporary London).”84

figure 39: Star Trek Into Darkness, film still showing 23rd century London

Chapter Summation
Bruce Sterling’s 1988 science fiction novel Islands in the Net, describes the
cityscape of a futuristic Singapore, ‘like downtown Houston, but more like
Houston than even Houston had the nerve to become’.85 Futuristic cityscapes
in science fiction are often either directly or indirectly exaggerated forms
of contemporary architecture, or a post-modern amalgamation of different
cultural styles. Whether at the scale of New York City or a New York bar,
recognisable architectural styles are used to provide believability, a familiar
base onto which the set designers can build futuristic elements, often resulting
in cityscapes that look like they have evolved from the present. Furthermore,
it is not just architectural styles which are represented in science fiction films
but also architectural theories and uncertainties. Contemporary societal issues
concerning the cityscape and environment are demonstrated and analysed
through these films in their spatial design.

31
 Chapter 3

Science Fiction
Architecture
Challenges the Familiar

“By limiting our thoughts, we limit architecture and its ability

to respond to the trials and tribulations of a challenging future”
Neil Spiller, founder of the AVATAR Group 86

22
32
 Introduction
As explored in the previous two chapters, science fiction films use real world
architecture both as a physical setting and as an inspiration from which to
develop their futuristic cityscape. This borrowing of architectural language is not
exclusive to set designers but is also common among architects. Designers of
fictional worlds create their representations of the future from what they see in
contemporary architecture, and through interpretations of historical architectural
developments. Likewise, contemporary architects are always looking toward
the future, constructing their architectural language not only from what they
see in the physical world but perceive in all forms of media. Architects, when
they have time, sometimes watch science fiction films too. Therefore, just as
art imitates life, the imagined architecture of science fiction is also informing
the current design work of architects across the world, and has been for the
last 100 years. This chapter will explore examples of how science fiction has
challenged architectural thinking and informed architectural developments on
different continents.

figure 40: Things to Come, film still showing Everytown cityscape 2036

America
H G Wells himself oversaw the adaption of his 1933 novel The Shape of Things
to Come into a science fiction movie, Things to Come released in 1936.87
Directed by William Cameron Menzies, much of the film takes place in 2036
in Everytown, a subterranean recreation of London with the recognizable
forms of high-rise buildings and moving walkways encompassed by a titanic,
futuristic, climate-protecting glass shell.88 The cityscape of Everytown borrows
its elevated transportation schemes and high-rises both from Wells’ novels and
Le Corbusier’s Contemporary City blue prints from 1922. Due to these strong
influences Le Corbusier himself was first asked to design the set, however he
declined and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, formerly a Bauhaus academic, was chosen
as the production designer.89
33
Moholy-Nagy’s modern, crisp look and curved interior designs drew inspiration
from the Bauhaus aesthetic.90 He sought to eliminate solid structures and
instead worked with frames, stating “there were no walls, but skeletons of
steel, screened with glass and plastic sheets”.91 This draws parallels with
the work of Antonio Sant’Elia, whose 1914 Futurist manifesto stated that the
architecture of the future must be designed with materials of the future, “steel,
glass, cardboard, reinforced concrete, and textile fibres.” These progressions
in technology would allow for new architectural aesthetics, for example
“elevators must no longer be hidden like tape worms in the bowels of building
but be accessible and visible on the outside of facades.”92 This can clearly
be seen in the film’s design, although due to artistic differences the film’s final
set was completed by Vincent Korda, a more established set designer within
Hollywood.93

Moholy-Nagy’s steel and glass set designs predict the emergence of glass
skyscrapers following the Second World War. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe,
a Bauhaus colleague, produced a conceptual glass tower design in 1921
for the Friedrichstrasse skyscraper competition94 inspired by the Bauhaus’s
industrial aesthetic.95 Van der Rohe’s architecture built in the United States
after his emigration from Germany shares a similar architectural language
with the production design of Things to Come. Following the technological
development of industrial materials due to the Second World War, Van der Rohe
produced the first glass and steel frame high-rises in the United States with the
construction of 860 Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, finished in 1951.96

figure 41: glass tower design, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, 1921
figure 42: 860 Lake Shore Drive, van der Rohe, 1951
34
 Things to Come also employs other design elements which were not
technically achievable at the time but are familiar today, such as glass elevators
and moving walkways. Both of these elements were first built over 20 years
after they featured in Things to Come when in 1956 they were incorporated
into a hotel design. The first hydraulic glass elevator glided up the exterior of
the El Cortez Hotel in San Diego,97 serving as an attraction in itself, named the
‘Starlight Express’. It was commissioned by the hotel’s extravagant new owner
Harry Handlery as an attempt to restore the hotel’s declining reputation, a hope
which was achieved. The further introduction of the Travelator to the El Cortez
Hotel also played its role, being the first moving walkway within a commercial
building.98

figure 43: El Cortez Hotel & Starlight Express, San Diego 1941

The architectural language of Things to Come would emerge again over three
decades later in the style of John Portman’s commercial developments.99
Portman’s architecture is a singular design style which borrows from both
Modernism and Brutalism, and uses key aesthetic elements seen in Things to
Come, such as colossal atriums and glass elevators stretching up through a
building’s core, used in the Marriot Marquis and Hyatt Regency hotels, both in
Atlanta.100 Portman’s buildings are not only inspired by science fiction, but they
are also now settings for sci-fi films of the dystopic style, including both The
Hunger Games and Divergent series.101

figure 44 (right): Marriot Marquis, John Portman 1985

35
36
 figures 45/46: Eagle comic covers showing futuristic London, Frank Hampson
Europe
A comic by Frank Hampson in the 1950s featured the character Dan Dare, a
fearless pilot of the Interplanet Space Fleet, and an iconic design of a future
England. The narrative demonstrated parallels with post-war Britain, a country
on the edge of change promoted by fast technological progress. Hampson
envisioned a futuristic London with Shard-like sky scrapers punctuating the
cloud line alongside Barbican-style concrete geometry. His drawings even
incorporated more organic fluid forms such as Gherkin-esque glass enclosure
of Big Ben and curvilinear shapes reminiscent of the Millennium Dome. His
designs have had a significant impact upon many architects, as can be seen
with notable examples of buildings with remarkably similar styles, the most
prominent of which is the Shard designed by Renzo Piano, completed in
2013.102 British architect Norman Foster is a self-professed fan, stating “I
loved the coloured, cross-sectional, technical drawings that appeared in the
middle of The Eagle after Dan Dare.”103 Hampton’s representations were so
architecturally stimulating that he was even commissioned to illustrate posters
of Foster’s design for the Renault Distribution Centre in Swindon, to be shown
in the Architectural Review’s 1983 issue.104

figure 47: Eagle comic with Dan Dare, Frank Hampson

37
It was from inspirations like these that the High Tech style of British
architecture evolved in the 1960s. The Archigram group believed technological
advancement was causing our lives to adapt, and therefore so should
architecture, particularly through the use of modular infrastructural design. The
group published its own magazine styled in the fashion of comic books, which
featured the work of emerging architects and engineers.105 The 1964 issue
centred around illustrations from popular science fiction comic books of that
time.

Bowellism architecture, where services are located on the exterior to maximise

interior space, also arrived as part of the High Tech movement in the 1970s
and is epitomised by the Lloyds building in London, by Richard Rogers, and
the Pompidou Centre in Paris, by Rogers and Renzo Piano. This style is
again reminiscent of earlier science fiction influences, both resembling the
clean interiors and exterior circulation of Things to Come and the illustrations
of Dan Dare. The Bowellism approach continues to be seen in space ship
design, such as in Alien, where the interiors are a clean and orthogonal series
of spaces whilst the exteriors are a web of steel frames, ducts and exhaust
stacks.106

figure 48: Plug in City, Peter Cook, Archigram1964 issue

figure 49: Pompidou Centre, Renzo Piano & Richard Rogers, 1971
38
 Asia
Following the end of World War Two Japanese architects were faced with a
new problem, how to design for the traditional Japanese culture alongside the
rapid technological advances of their society. It was here that the Metabolism
Movement was started by a group of young Japanese architects. Their designs
focussed on city planning and were grand utopic schemes relying on integration
with technology. They envisioned cities in the way a computer designer
envisions infrastructure, with standardized individual buildings as components
to be plugged into the vast city structure.107 Designs such as Kisho Kurokawa’s
Nakagin Capsule Tower in Tokyo, completed in 1972, evolved from ideas of
a cellular city. The world’s first example of capsule architecture, the building
is made from 140 self-contained prefabricated cubes, each of which can be
used as a small living or office space. The interior design style with its high-
tech pods is reminiscent of space ships in earlier sci-fi films, such as 2001: A
Space Odyssey (1968) with its modular design, and can also be seen in recent
releases such as Cloud Atlas (2012). The building however has notably failed to
survive the test of time as it was unpopular with inhabitants and the concept of
renovating or replacing capsules by simply unplugging them proved prohibitively
awkward and expensive. A 2009 article in the New York Times said of the
now-derelict building, “Its existence stands as a powerful reminder of paths not
taken, of the possibility of worlds shaped by different sets of values.”108

figure 50: Nakagin Capsule Tower, Kisho Kurokawa1972

figure 51: Cloud Atlas, film still showing capsule living

39
Middle East
The United Arab Emirates has crafted an image for itself as a futuristic utopia,
for both monetary and advertising reasons. This has led to the pop sci-fi
appearance of their buildings. Leading skyscraper architect Adrian Smith has
designed 12 out of the world’s 16 tallest buildings, including the current record-
holder, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. He has said he was inspired by the Emerald
City in The Wizard of Oz, amazed at how “the huge crystallized structure
formed from what seemed to be like nowhere.” There are many other recent
projects, or projects in development, in the Middle East which have a science
fiction influence, such as the Water Discus Hotel emerging from the waters of
Dubai, which has similarities to cities in Star Wars such as Otoh Gunga and
Tipoca.109 This leads to a circular process, as science fiction both drives the
creation of these buildings, and these buildings are in turn used in science
fiction films. Dubai in the last two years has served as the setting for three
prominent science fiction films: Ghost Protocol, Code 46 and the latest Star
Trek.110

figure 52: The Water Discus underwater hotel, Deep Ocean Technology visualization

figure 53: Tipoca City, Star Wars episode II (2002)

40
 South America
The influence of science fiction on architecture however is not limited to the
scale of sky-scrapers but can also be seen at the scale of the traditional house.
In the past eight years, the Bolivian architect Freddy Mamani Silvestre has been
designing homes which have been fondly nicknamed ‘Spaceship Architecture’.
This is due to their bold use of colour, geometric patterns and extravagant use
of LED lights. These urban residential buildings are being constructed in El Alto,
Bolivia. Silvestre attributes his style to inspiration from the Transformers movies,
incorporated into the vernacular style of the Tiwanaku and Andean cultures.111

figures 54/55: Silverstre’s spaceship architecture 2015 / Transformer robot 2007

Chapter Summation
Building design within science fiction has informed architecture in different
ways across different continents. This has sometimes been a purely aesthetic
influence, such as Silvestre’s spaceship like homes in South America and
extravagant futuristic hotels in the Middle East, whilst sometimes it has been
on a much larger scale of design function, such as the development of glass
skyscrapers in America, Bowellism in Europe and modular architecture in
Japan. Science fiction films allow designers to create architecture using
materials, building techniques or technologies that are not currently available.
This process of speculation un-inhibited by the constraints of reality allows for
more creative architecture that challenges the familiar. Science fiction designers
can focus on aesthetics, circulation, comfort and human interaction, and
propose unique solutions to these problems, with a freedom not possible for
real-world architects who must consider such practical matters as planning
regulations. Subsequently as new technologies are developed, architects find
they have already been applied to design in the safety of a fictional future world,
and are challenged to apply them in the real world.
41
 Chapter 4

Science Fiction
Architecture
Shows the Future

“Any suf ficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”

Clarke’s Third Law 112

22
42
 Introduction
As explored in the previous chapter, science fiction has inspired architectural
design over the last century in many ways. However, it has sometimes not
just inspired but directly led to developments in technology, product design
and architecture as designers and architects have attempted to realise sci-fi
concepts. This has been demonstrated in several engineering and product
design instances, an early and prominent example being HG Wells’ novel
War of the Worlds planting the idea that led to the invention of the first liquid-
fuelled rocket by Robert H. Goddard in 1926. Often it is the case that once the
technology in the real world catches up with that of the fantasy, life imitates art.
For example, in 1973 Martin Cooper of Motorola decided that the company
would be the first to develop the hand-held phone, modelled after Captain
Kirk’s communicator first seen on Star Trek in the 1960s.113 114 More recently
there have been a number of deliberate initiatives to build upon the potential of
synergies between science fiction and real science, both for terrestrial uses, for
space travel and for habitation of other planets.

figure 56: Star Trek, film still of Captain Kirk using his communicator
figure 57: Back to the Future II, film still of Nike MAG sneakers

Reaching Beyond the Sky

Project Hieroglyph, founded in 2011 by sci-fi novelist Neal Stephenson and
now administered by Arizona State University, was started with the aim of
creating science fiction that would drive positive cultural and technological
developments. Hieroglyphs are universally recognisable symbols as are the
more iconic inventions within science fiction films, such as Isaac Asimov’s
robots and the Nike MAG sneakers in Back to the Future II, which were
produced for sale in 2015, the ‘future’ year in which the film was set. Such
science fiction innovations can act as cultural touchstones for technological
developments which Project Hieroglyph intends to exploit, as science fiction
narratives have the unique ability not just to demonstrate an idea but to explore
the context in which the idea can play out, that is the society, infrastructure
and most importantly the culture in which the new idea will work, which is the
missing part of the equation for developers and designers.115

43
 figure 58: design of the Stratosphere Tower, Project Hieroglyph 2012

Project Hieroglyph has largely been focussed on product design and computer
technologies; however it is also being applied in an architectural context.
In 2012 Neal Stephenson envisioned a 20-kilometre-high tower that would
puncture the stratosphere, enabling easier communication and travel between
space and earth for the inevitable commercialisation of space travel. The
structure would make travel between earth and space more cost efficient, more
fuel efficient and much faster, as the need for breaking through the atmosphere
would be nullified.116 This idea is a lot more realistic than it may first appear
and is now being designed since a structural engineer has joined forces on
the project. Stephenson contends that much of what we see in science fiction
today is already possible within our established technology, such as regular
space travel and large scale use of renewable energies. Ironically, he states the
foremost inhibitor is not lack of scientific capability but lack of willingness to
take risk, particularly the insurance industry’s unwillingness to underwrite such
projects.117 Such collaboration between science fiction and science fact is what
is pushing the next boundaries for architecture in the future of space travel and
inhabitation.118 Stephenson’s stratosphere tower concept has been taken even
further by the International Academy of Astronautics which in 2013 published
a feasibility study for a Space Elevator, which would outstrip the 20-kilometre
tower by quite a stretch, coming in at 100,000 kilometres – though this is a
cable tethered in space, rather than a tower. It concluded that the materials
technology to achieve this would be available within 20 years.
44
 Grow-Your-Own Architecture
The AVATAR group (Advanced Virtual and Technological Architectural
Research), founded by Neil Spiller in 2004, focuses on how the exponential
rate of developing technologies can affect architecture in a positive way that
addresses such concerns as climate change, protecting biodiversity and scarce
resources. Among other things, they are investigating how the development
of biotechnologies could impact how we build in the future.119 This includes
concepts such as creating protocells (chemistries that mimic natural processes)
for uses ranging from carbon-fixing paint to new flexible materials. For the
development of their ideas in an architectural context Neil Spiller has stated
that they consult creative media including film and animation. The development
of bio-materials will also enable the creation of new organic structures whilst
removing the structural difficulties and excessive costs that still plague the
creation of buildings with organic forms. An example is Zaha Hadid’s Maxxi
Museum in Rome, which due to its curving walls and double height spaces
required pouring in-situ concrete up to 7 meters high, resulting in the budget
doubling over the course of construction.120

figure 59: visualization of spaceship, Project Persephone 2014

Adaptable bio-materials could also result in adaptable designs, where the

architecture can be moulded by the users’ needs and desires. Project
Persephone is part of the Icarus Interstellar Initiative, led by Dr Rachel
Armstrong, Elizabeth Anne Williams and Phil Watson, which is working on
the design of ‘habitable starship architecture that can respond and evolve
according to the needs of its inhabitants.’121 The aim is to use an engineered
bio material for the ship’s interior to create an evolvable environment that uses
resources efficiently.122
45
 figure 60: visualization of living architecture, Project Persephone 2014

Many of these proposed architectural developments require the production

of new materials. Scientists from various research projects around the world
have been investigating materials which would be able to grow themselves.
Mycologist Philip Ross has been utilizing the mycelium of fungi (the
underground ‘root’) to grow in the form of bricks which have more strength per
weight of material than concrete.123 It was this material which was utilized by
architecture firm The Living to grow the Hy-fi Tower, a pavilion constructed of
these mushroom-based bricks exhibited outside MoMA.124 The company Bio
Mason has been using 3D printing technologies to grow bricks from bacteria
and waste material.125 126 Such developments point to a future architecture
where materials are formed by the environment, requiring almost no energy to
create.

figure 61: Hy-fi tower under construction, 2014

The architectural application of synthetic biology is being evolved in much

more specialised ways also. One example of this is the Computational Colloids
Project, which takes the use of biofilms - materials made by bacteria - and
develops it in a uniquely problem-solving way. Dr Martyn Dade-Robertson,
architect and synthetic biologist at the University of Newcastle, is developing
a bacterium which would respond to environmental changes to create new
materials.127 From this, the possibility of programmable self-assembling and
self-healing material is not only possible, but the next logical development.128
46
 These ideas of biologically grown architecture were first explored in science
fiction films long before it entered the realm of possibility in the scheme of real
world architecture. Perhaps the most iconic example of this can be seen in
the Alien series, through the work of H.R. Giger, originally educated in interior
design and industrial architecture, before diverging into the world of graphic
and ultimately set design.129 The Alien architecture of the Xenomorphs is
perhaps so organic in its nature due to the work of Giger in designing not only
the creatures themselves but the architecture which they inhabit. This fluidity
in design is what resulted in a living materiality, where alien and architecture
become one all the more terrifying being of biomechanical creation.130 Similar
bio-structures can also be seen in the spaceships of Babylon 5’s Vorlon race
and District 9’s ‘prawns’, both of which involve a similar organic technology and
materiality.131

figure 62: Alien Concept Art, H.R. Giger

Life on Mars
Proposals for structures to facilitate space travel and the generating of new
materials for use in space are both fascinating projects for any science fiction
fan, however nothing has sparked public interest in the same way as proposals
for human habitation of Mars. In 2015 over 200,000 people applied for
the pioneer settlement project Mars One. Bas Lansdorp’s project has been
budgeted at $4 billion, with the hopes of launching this Mars settlement before
2025.132 The architecture for the project has already been designed, being
formed of modular inflatable components with solar panels providing energy.
Such a concept has already seen by many in 2015’s Realist sci-fi film The
Martian; at this point it is hard to say whether it is designers or scientists who
are working at the forefront.133
47
Elon Musk, founder of the SpaceX company which is also working on a mission
to Mars, says he was inspired by science fiction: The Hitch Hikers Guide to
the Galaxy is quoted as one of his favourite books, and one he encourages
those studying design and science to read. In 2016 he announced his goal
of establishing a human settlement on Mars in the next 6 years. The United
Arab Emirates has also announced its intentions for The Mars 2117 Project, to
develop an environment suitable for human habitation on Mars in the next 100
years.134 Their vision is to construct a small-scale city on Mars with a population
of roughly 600,000, pioneered by the UAE with international cooperation. For
both projects, the construction of Martian architecture centres on the use of
robots and 3D printing technologies.135

Following the discovery of water on Mars, NASA and its partners launched a
design competition in 2015 for the creation of a 3D printed habitat suitable for
the demanding nature of deep space and the colonisation of Mars. The goal
of this project was to encourage collaboration between scientists, architects
and innovators of all kinds in the development of new technologies to enable
the construction of these buildings.136 This competition resulted in an incredible
array of different designs submitted by some of the world’s most prominent
architecture firms including Foster & Partners Architecture which proposed a
93 square meter settlement, constructed from regolith (the soil and rock found
on Mars) using 3D printed technologies and semi-autonomous robots.137
Another architectural project for the development of Mars by Alberto Villanueva
proposes using biotechnology (fungi and bacteria) to make habitations on the
planet from Mars’ soil and its recently discovered frozen water.138 Projects for
the development of off-earth architecture however are not limited solely to Mars.
Sci-fi novelist Cory Doctorow’s story about 3D printers constructing a colony on
the moon from moon dust has been adopted by Project Hieroglyph and is now
the subject of a research project.139

figure 63: Mars Settlement, Norman Foster 2015

48
 Chapter Summation
The idea of travelling to and living in space has fascinated humanity throughout
history and science fiction has explored these ideas in numerous ways both
in literature and film. Fictional depictions of space travel inspired the creation
of the jet fuelled rocket in 1926 and Elon Musk’s drive for human habitation of
Mars by 2026. As in the case of The Martian it is sometimes unclear whether
scientists and designers are driving the fiction or the other way around. Perhaps
the truth is somewhere in the middle, as increasingly scientists and the creators
of science fiction seem to be working cohesively on the forefront of human
development.

figure 64: Alberto Villanueva’s visualization of a Mars utopia 2016

49
 Conclusion

“A good science fiction story can be very power ful

... it can inspire hundreds, thousands, millions of people”
Ed Finn, Project Director of Hieroglyph140

50
22
51
Conclusion
The use of architecture within a science fiction film may at first appear to be
a simple process, a choice on the part of the director to use structures or an
aesthetic which passively inform the film’s appearance and narrative. However,
what has emerged is a much more intricate process whereby architecture
both informs film and film informs architecture. A science fiction film’s use of
architecture almost inevitably results in a critique of the buildings featured,
their architects and sometimes an architecture movement as a whole, whether
intentionally or unintentionally. As a result, the use of architecture within science
fiction films is never passive, instead it encourages discussion. This promotion
of architectural discourse is invaluable to contemporary architects and
society in general, as it not only raises questions about the merits of different
design styles and approaches, but what effect those might have on society
more broadly. Contemporary societal issues concerning the cityscape and
environment are demonstrated and analysed in many science fiction films.

Architecture in science fiction films is clearly inspired by the present – it

uses existing structures, builds on historic and contemporary architectural
languages and challenges those familiar languages in a variety of ways. What
also emerges from this research is how science fiction feeds back into real
world architecture, creating a cyclical process which may occasionally give
us a true glimpse of the future. Science fiction films provide designers with
the opportunity and resources to design architecture using materials, building
techniques or technologies that are not currently available. As we have seen,
such uninhibited design freedom can generate unique architecture geared
towards the future, which not only inspires designers and architects in the
real world, but can directly lead to new developments in technological design
and architecture. Increasingly it seems that the creators of science fiction are
working with scientists to push the boundaries of invention.

The 2016 sci-fi film Arrival explores to what extent our language defines our
understanding of the world around us and may limit our ability to conceive of
anything different to what we can describe. Such constraints must apply to
architectural language also. We are perhaps so rooted in the familiar, not just
historically but at the very level of language itself, that it may not be possible for
science fiction films to make the transcendent leap that truly shows the future
of architecture. However, through the medium of science fiction films designers
can continue to stretch their imaginations to the limit. This is important because
it is not science or technology which decides our future, it is us alone who are
fully in control of our fate. As science and technology are just tools we use in
shaping our future, science fiction films and their depiction of architecture and
our environment are of utmost importance. They allow us to design for the
future we want to see, and to help us prevent the future we don’t.

52
figure 65: Foster + Partners, visualizations for Mars colonization

figure 65: Nasa Poster 2016

 Endnotes
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60
 figure 45 https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/ce/45/e2/ce45e2a2be997f-
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