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    Civilian draws on “grandeur” of early cinemas for Sandbox Films offices

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    New York studio Civilian has designed the headquarters for a documentary production company in Manhattan’s Flatiron District, which includes an art deco-influenced screening room.

    The offices for award-winning Sandbox Films are located in a landmarked 1920s neo-gothic skyscraper, and provide the company with its first dedicated workspace.
    Civilian’s interiors of the Sandbox Films offices draw upon multiple references, from old movie theatres to colours used by Danish modernist Poul HenningsenSpread across 4,200 square feet (390 square metres) of space, the program includes an open-plan reception area that doubles as an events space, a conference room, private and open offices, and production and editing suites.
    There’s also a 22-seat screening room with a Dolby Atmos sound system, in which the team and their visitors can preview the completed or in-progress cuts.
    In the centre of the reception area is a custom, double-sided sofa upholstered in velvet and boucle fabricsThe non-profit documentary production company makes cinematic science films, many of which have won or received nominations for prestigious awards.

    Among them are Fire of Love, which was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 95th Academy Awards in 2022; Emmy-winning Fathom; Sundance winner All Light, Everywhere; and Fireball, co-directed by Werner Herzog.
    Another custom design is the meeting room table, which has ash legs and a white lacquered top”Inspired by [our] clients’ love for the craft of storytelling, the space was informed by the grandeur of the amenity-rich yet intimate early movie houses of Stockholm and Amsterdam, art deco cinemas, the architectural colour gestures of Danish modernist designer Poul Henningsen, and the vanished world of interwar New York conjured by the project’s Broadway address,” said Civilian.
    The reception area revolves around a circular stone-topped bar, which demarcates a staff pantry area by day, and can be used for serving food and drinks for events.
    Vintage pieces sourced for the space include a pair of swivelling Milo Boughman chairs”With an active roster of screenings, events and a residency program for independent filmmakers, the space acts as an office as well as a dynamic center of gravity for New York’s nonfiction film community at large,” the team said.
    A custom double-sided, Pierre Chareau-inspired boucle and velvet sofa sits opposite a pair of refinished Milo Boughman swivel chairs.
    A bar area in reception acts as a pantry by day and is used for hosting events in the eveningMarquee lights are installed in rows along the sides of the existing ceiling beams, with additional sconces mounted on the plastered pantry wall.
    Structural columns have been wrapped in travertine cladding to highlight thresholds between the different spaces.
    Wood panelling and film posters hark back to art deco movie theatresOn either side of the reception, acoustic partitions with glass panels and mint-green frames cordon off the bright conference room and a private office.
    Furnishing the conference room is a custom-designed meeting table that combines a solid ash frame and a high-gloss curved lacquer top, surrounded by vintage Tobia Scarpa Sling Chairs.
    A communal workspace features sit-stand desks, oak dividers and plenty of ledges for plantsFrom reception, a neon-lit burgundy door leads into the screening room, where three tiers of seating face the large screen like in a mini movie theatre.
    The cushioned seats are upholstered in soft powder-blue fabric, which contrasts with walnut wainscoting, and sound-absorbing brown wool wall panels that conceal the equipment.

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    Each chair has an individual armrest table for placing drinks or writing notes, complete with a small light created in collaboration with Lambert et Fils.
    More private offices, sound-proofed editing suites and an open workspace are accessed via a short L-shaped corridor.
    A 22-seat screening room allows the team and their visitors to preview documentary filmsIn the communal work area, sit-stand desks feature white oak divider panels and are topped with a stone ledge for displaying objects and plants.
    “This project has given us an opportunity to draw from so many inspiring references, from its iconic Broadway location to historic theatre architecture, to create an elevated and layered space that supports the work Sandbox is doing to uplift documentary film talent,” said Civilian co-founder Ksenia Kagner.
    The screening rooms boasts a Dolby Atmos sound system, and includes chairs with individual armrest tables for drinks or note-writing”We also felt it was important to be responsive to the changing priorities of the modern workplace, creating open, multipurpose spaces that nurture interaction and foster a sense of community,” she added.
    Civilian was founded in 2018 by Kagner and Nicko Elliott, and the designers have since completed projects ranging from the transformation of Detroit’s historic Book Depository into a headquarters for tech company Newlab, to the renovation of a historic Bed-Stuy townhouse for themselves.
    The photography is by Chris Mottalini.
    Project credits:
    Client: Sandbox Films (Simons Foundation)Client rep: Cushman and WakefieldCivilian scope: Interior design, creative direction, furniture designArchitect of record: LB ArchitectsMechanical engineer: WB EngineersAV engineer: SpectraAcoustic engineer: WSDGProduction studio consultant: Tom PaulContractor: L&K Partners

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      Shrek and Donkey invite guests to stay in mud-laden Shrek’s Swamp

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      Rental website Airbnb has designed Shrek’s Swamp, a grass-and-mud-covered hut underneath a tree in the Scottish Highlands.

      The small house, which has a bare-earth floor, is described as “a stumpy, secluded haven fit for a solitude-seeking ogre”.
      The holiday home is located underneath a tree trunkIt is being hosted by Donkey, Shrek’s best friend, who is swamp-sitting while Shrek himself is away for Halloween, according to an Airbnb description written as if by Donkey himself.
      In it, he says: “I love everything about the swamp: the boulder out front, the modest interiors, the seclusion (ideal for singing karaoke late into the night), you get the picture”.
      It features rough-hewn wooden furnitureThe holiday home, which sleeps up to three guests, has an open-plan design, with a sturdy wooden bed leaning against one wall.

      A matching table and two wooden chairs sit in front of an open fire on the opposite side of the house, which is held up by large tree trunks.
      A fish-shaped lamp decorates the bedside tableShrek’s Swamp Airbnb also features decorative touches, including a green “earwax candle” – a nod to a scene in which Shrek pulls out a stick of earwax from his ear and lights it.
      It also has a bedside lamp that looks like a stuffed pufferfish.
      The dining table sits in front of an open fireVisitors can also make use of Shrek’s outhouse, a well-known location from multiple Shrek films, which is located about 20 metres away from the swamp itself.
      Located in a forest in the Scottish Highlands, the hut is surrounded by signs reading “Stay out”, “Beware Ogre” and “Danger!” though these are “probably for decoration”, according to Donkey.

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      The home will be available to book from 13 October for a two-night stay between 27 and 29 October and comes with an on-site concierge who will arrange meals for the guests – including morning waffles and parfaits.
      “This mud-laden, moss-covered, murky-watered oasis is a perfectly snug spot to escape from village life and embrace the beauty of nature,” Airbnb said.
      The home has a bare-earth floorThe company will make a one-time donation to the HopScotch Children’s Charity as part of the project.
      Airbnb also recently helped Ken rent out Barbie’s Malibu Dreamhouse and listed a 1970s wood cabin located in the iconic Sea Ranch development in California.
      The photography is courtesy of Alix McIntosh.

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      Asteroid City exhibition immerses visitors in Wes Anderson’s Americana film sets

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      An exhibition of the 1950s sets, props, miniature models, costumes and artwork used in Wes Anderson’s latest film Asteroid City has opened at 180 The Strand in London.

      The exhibition was designed to immerse visitors in the film’s fictitious world – a desert town in 1950s America famous for its meteor crater and celestial observatory.
      The exhibition is on display at London’s 180 The StrandIts aim was to give visitors insight into the “1950s Americana world the film is set in”, said Asteroid City associate producer Ben Alder.
      Asteroid City was filmed on flat farmland in Spain, with the buildings made for the film set up to appear like a town.
      The exhibition features large sets”Everything you see in the film was physically built and laid out in a way that gave the actors and crew the sense of living in this real town,” Alder told Dezeen.

      “The exhibition is a great way for people to see how much work went into all the elements of the film, like the costumes, because you can spend more time looking at how they are made and how much care went into them.”
      Film sets used in the Asteroid City movie are on displayPieces in the exhibition are spread across three main spaces, with audio clips and parts of the film projected onto walls referencing scenes relevant to the nearby displays.
      “The idea was to use the largest open space for the sets to give people the sense of how big they were on the film, and you can imagine how massive our Asteroid City town was,” said Alder.
      Costumes and props are on display”Then there’s another space that’s a more traditional gallery-type curation where you can see smaller objects and props, going into the details of the characters,” Alder continued.
      Mimicking the exterior of the cafe featured in the film, a temporary wooden structure decorated with menu lettering and a desert scene spans the entrance of 180 The Strand.

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      Sets displayed in the exhibition include white wooden residential shacks, a train carriage and a bathroom scene.
      Other life-sized scenery props include telephone booths, billboard posters and humourous vending machines that dispense martinis and bullets in the film.
      The exhibition provides a close-up view of the Asteroid City film props”There are moments where visitors are invited to be in the sets and interact with them,” said Alder.
      “Not only can visitors see all the pieces from the film really closely but they can go inside some of the sets – they can sit inside the train compartment, recreate the scene with [actor] Scarlett [Johansson] in the window, or go into the telephone booth – which is something really special that not a lot of exhibitions have.”
      Visitors can explore a desert setSome of the character costumes are arranged together with set pieces to recreate scenes from the film.
      Also on display are puppets made by Andy Gent, who previously created puppets for Anderson’s films Isle of Dogs and Fantastic Mr Fox, and a series of glass flowers used in a stop-motion animation sequence where they transition from blooming to wilting.
      The Asteroid City exhibition showcases many details from the filmThe exhibition ends with a recreation of a luncheonette featured in the movie, where visitors can order food and drink.
      It has a 1950s-style decor, with stools lined up along the service bar, pastel-coloured blinds and the image of a desert landscape framed inside fake windows.
      A 1950s-style cafe is at the end of the exhibitionAsteroid City is out in cinemas now.
      Anderson is known for his distinctive film aesthetic, typified by retro influences and pastel colours. Interiors that have been informed by the director’s style include a pastel-yellow breakfast cafe in Sweden and a bottle shop in Los Angeles with mid-century influences.
      The photography is courtesy of Universal Pictures and 180 Studios.
      The Asteroid City exhibition is on display at 180 The Strand in London from 17 June to 8 July 2023. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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      Tbilisi's Blueberry Nights hotel makes “people feel like they're inside a movie”

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      Georgian architect Sandro Takaishvili has converted an apartment building in Tbilisi into a hotel, with interiors informed by his love of cinema and movie projectors in all 16 rooms.

      Taking over three storeys above a restaurant in the capital’s Vera neighbourhood, the Blueberry Nights hotel features a theatrical colour scheme, Japanese furnishings and moody lighting.
      Blueberry Nights is a 16-room hotel in Tbilisi”The design of the hotel is the culmination of my entire life’s consumption of film,” the hotel’s co-founder Sandro Takaishvili told Dezeen.
      “My intention is to make people feel like they’re inside a movie, where everything feels slightly familiar but otherworldly at the same time,” said the architect, who previously worked as a set designer, filmmaker and photographer.
      Its design references films by renowned film directorsThe hotel was named after My Blueberry Nights – a film by Hong Kong director Wong Kar-Wai – and incorporates visual references to the work of other renowned directors including Stanley Kubrick.

      The main lobby was designed to look and feel like a cosy cinema foyer, complete with dark blue carpeting, walnut wood furniture and seating upholstered in velvet. Guests can check in at a large reception desk fronted in plexiglass that was inspired by retro-futuristic films.
      The guestrooms are sparsely decorated with lights from Japan”From the moment guests step through the doors, a moody cinematic journey begins with dark blue carpets, downlights and a soft soundtrack of noir movie dialogues playing in the lobby,” Takaishvili said.
      As part of the renovation, Takaishvili transformed the building’s attic into two extra guestrooms, for a total of 16 rooms.

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      The bedrooms were designed to evoke the visual style of David Lynch, with custom-made low-slung beds and walnut-veneer cabinets. Room dividers punctured by large circular openings were used to mark different zones within the rooms.
      The warm wooden furniture is offset by splashes of red – in the form of vintage phones, artwork and window shutters made from medium-density fibreboard (MDF) – as well as the white tiles used in the tiny en-suite bathrooms.
      Wooden furniture in the hotel rooms was locally producedOther bedroom decor includes lamps with Noguchi-style paper shades, which Takaishvili imported from Japan, and teak-and-cane chairs by architect Pierre Jeanneret, which were sourced from London.
      “The paper lights give off a soft luminescent effect that creates a cosy ambience,” the architect explained.
      “Some of the simple geometric forms that I used definitely have a mid-century influence but I wasn’t trying to be trendy. I just wanted to achieve a cinematic effect without resorting to obvious movie gimmicks.”
      The architects added vinyl players and records in each roomOne wall was left blank in each room so that guests can watch movies via a smart projector, while music can be played via a selection of vinyl records.
      Other interior projects in Tbilisi include a bookstore-cum-cafe by Georgian designer Lado Lomitashvili and the Stamba Hotel, which occupies the former headquarters of a Soviet printing press.
      The photography is courtesy of Blueberry Nights.

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      Kate Byron designs modernist Don't Worry Darling set as “a playful and debaucherous take on the 1950s”

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      Production designer Kate Byron used vintage “treasures” and referenced key modernist architecture to create the set of psychological thriller Don’t Worry Darling, which was shot in California’s Palm Springs.

      Byron drew on the architecture and interior style of the many modernist buildings that dominate the landscape in the desert city to create Victory – a fictional, utopian 1950s-style society where the film takes place.
      Katie Byron referenced modernist architecture for the film”We wanted to build a playful and debaucherous take on the 1950s, when there was this illustrious progressive, mid-century modern movement happening,” Byron told Dezeen.
      “The world of Victory is supposed to be alluring, it’s supposed to be beautiful and sultry and sumptuous and opulent.”
      It was shot in Palm Springs, a Californian city famous for its modernist architectureDirected by actor and director Olivia Wilde, Don’t Worry Darling follows fiery couple Alice and Jack – played by British actor Florence Pugh and musician and actor Harry Styles – as they go from living in an idealistic paradise to a troubled world fraught with secrets, control and manipulation.

      The characters move across a quintessential Palm Springs backdrop of low-slung buildings with clean lines by architects including Richard Neutra, Harold Bissner Junior and Albert Frey.
      Kaufmann House was one of the filming locationsSeveral scenes, such as a cocktail party hosted by the leader of Victory which took place in Neutra’s Kaufmann House, were shot in real modernist buildings, while the home of protagonists Alice and Jack was built in a Los Angeles studio.
      “We’re really lucky in California to have access to this architecture and in my history of being an architecture student and a production designer, I’ve gotten to visit a lot of these houses in person,” Byron said.
      “I was interested in Neutra, but also Frey was a huge inspiration for us because of that playful wholesomeness that he embodied,” she said.
      Alice and Jack’s house is filled with locally sourced propsByron, who studied architecture at University of California, Berkeley, threaded more subtle modernist details into the interiors of Don’t Worry Darling through devices such as colour.
      “A colour we used quite a bit was Frey’s favourite colour – this Frey blue – which is like a robin’s-egg blue that he puts in all of his buildings,” explained Byron.
      “There’s also a colour that Kaufman House has quite a bit of; Neutra put this really, really, really dark brown that almost feels black, but it has this warmth to it,” she continued. “We weaved that throughout the film as well.”
      Byron used lots of glass and mirrors throughout the setByron sourced vintage products from shops and prop houses in LA for Alice and Jack’s home, which recalls “cookie-cutter” houses – rows of identical homes found in idyllic depictions of 1950s suburbia.
      Much of the furniture seen was built from scratch, in part because the film was shot during the autumn of 2020 when many vendors were unavailable or had long lead times as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

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      “When you’re in Palm Springs, they just have these antique stores and even in thrift stores and Facebook marketplace you can find really special things,” the designer recalled.
      “That’s also one of the most amazing things about Los Angeles – there are infinite prop houses here so we shopped quite a bit at all the local prop houses,” she continued.
      “The television in Alice and Jack’s house is from this vendor called RC Vintage, which is just like a treasure trove place of antique electronics.”
      Much of the furniture was made from scratchOther smaller references were embedded into Byron’s material choices, primarily glass, stone and brick.
      Meanwhile, the designer paid homage to Neutra’s storage cabinets, which the production team filled with items such as business cards, cleaning supplies and photographs of Alice and Jack to make the set feel more real for the actors.
      “Keeping with Neutra as our design inspiration, the house is designed with a lot of storage in mind – we wanted all of this stuff to be cleanly kept behind doors,” Byron said.
      The desert setting is designed to look like a utopiaByron hoped that by incorporating playful elements throughout the set she could “subvert” the sense of normalcy in Victory and play with the audience’s expectations of a thriller.
      “The thriller follows a formula often, and I thought it could be really great to just subvert that,” she said.

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      “I think the level of play helps viewers feel like they want to be there and if it wasn’t for the playful aesthetic, I think we would be expecting something to go wrong,” she added.
      Don’t Worry Darling is not the only film that draws on a key architectural movement to inform its set. Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs film sets were heavily informed by metabolist architecture, while Black Panther’s “voluptuous” sets recalled works by architect Zaha Hadid.
      The photography is courtesy of Warner Bros.

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      Jennifer Morden creates “aspirational” mid-century house with sinister dungeon for Fresh

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      Production designer Jennifer Morden created a mid-century house to reflect the personality of the flamboyant and misogynistic antagonist in comedy-thriller film Fresh.

      Morden and her team built two individual sets in a studio to represent the house for the film, which was directed by Mimi Cave and shot in Canada’s British Columbia.
      Fresh features a mid-century house that belongs to cannibal SteveThe sets were designed to portray the main floor and basement of a lavish mid-century house that forms a secluded lair for Steve – a seemingly-charming man who seduces women into dating him, after which he traps them in his basement and reveals that he is actually a psychopathic butcher of human meat.
      “We wanted to make as much as we could so we could customise it,” Morden told Dezeen in a video call from Canada, explaining the decision not to use a real house for the project.
      The dining room is positioned at the highest level on the main floorFresh tells the story of Steve’s relationship with Noa, who he briefly dates and subsequently lures to his house. The characters are played by actors Sebastian Stan and Daisy Edgar-Jones respectively.

      “The choice to go with a mid-century style house was partly because right now it’s really popular,” said Morden.
      “People love mid-century houses and they’ve had a big resurgence in modern design. It was also about Steve looking aspirational.”
      Dark wooden cabinetry was included in the kitchenOn-screen, the rooms on the house’s main floor are presented at subtly different levels from each other in what Morden called a “hierarchy of spaces”.
      A dining room is seen on the highest level, a kitchen slightly lower down, and then a living room and finally Steve’s bedroom.
      Plush furniture such as 1970s Camaleonda sofas by Mario Bellini and Eames-like armchairs decorated these spaces and were set against harsher accents including dark wooden cabinetry and built-in concrete seating.
      A curved basement informed by fallopian tubes holds women captiveThe other set representing the basement featured a concrete floating staircase dug out of rock, which leads to dungeon-like, teak-lined hallways that descend to cells with sunken beds where women are held captive.
      Steve’s operating room forms the basement’s lowest level, where he harvests the imprisoned women’s meat and body parts.
      “Wherever we see Steve in relation to his victims, he’s always at a higher level to them,” explained the production designer.
      Steve’s operating room is located at the bottom of the basementSteve’s house intends to reflect his complex and powerful persona, which quickly transforms from outwardly normal to sinister as the drama unfolds, according to Morden.
      “I was like, okay, everything we do needs to involve body parts, in some capacity. Every piece of artwork, every piece of furniture and the way the hallways are designed.”
      Imagery of body parts is repeated throughout the filmTo illustrate this idea, the production designer and her team placed a Michel Ducaroy “body chair” in Steve’s bedroom and created faux herringbone flooring from pieces of painted, hand-laid plywood, which Morden said she “really wanted to feel like ribs”.
      The curved, cave-like basement was informed by fallopian tubes and designed to be a grand auditorium for Steve – a “crazy” idea that Morden pitched in her interview for the project.
      An abstract painting conceals items belonging to Steve’s victimsAn abstract painting was placed on the living room wall, which actually included hair, teeth and nails on closer inspection. In an early scene, upon arriving at the house before she is drugged and trapped, Noa studies the artwork.
      It is later revealed that Steve hides personal items belonging to the captured women behind this painting in boxy cubby holes that mirror the basement cells below.
      Wooden and concrete accents feature on the main floor and in the basement”Mimi wanted to use the piece of artwork as a little Easter egg [a term for hidden messages in a film] for later because it’s the first thing Noa sees and she’s drawn towards it,” reflected Morden.
      “The idea was that if we can draw everything back to body parts then we can start to create the story’s subliminal messaging and foreshadow what’s to come as much as we can.”

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      The production designer said that it was important to visually connect the main floor to the basement, which was partly achieved by adding wooden elements to the mainly concrete basement and concrete elements to the largely wooden main floor.
      Eventually, Cave and cinematographer Pawel Pogorzelski had the idea to add vivid and humorous sunset murals to the walls of the women’s cells.
      The decision to incorporate colourful carpets became natural after this, linking the basement to Steve’s opulent quarters above, according to Morden.
      Kitschy holiday-like murals were added to the cells to reflect Steve’s obnoxious nature”The idea was, what if we made the basement this space that Steve thought he was gifting to these people?” she explained, referencing Steve’s obnoxious and flamboyant character.
      “What if we use the idea that this misogynistic and unaware male was like, ‘I’m going to create a room that’s going to feel so nice for my victims?’ What would he put in there?”
      Each of the women’s rooms has a different coloured carpetCinematographically, Fresh also has a warm and fleshy colour palette of reds and oranges throughout, which nods to its graphic storyline.
      “I think for me, the biggest thing is just telling people to find all the Easter eggs in the film. There’s so much repeated imagery, especially around body parts,” concluded Morden.
      Other recent film and TV productions that feature architecturally-centred set design include Oscar-winning The Power of the Dog and BBC drama The Girl Before.
      The images are courtesy of Jennifer Morden.
      Project credits:
      Director: Mimi CaveWriter: Lauryn KahnProduction designer: Jennifer MordenSet decorator: Stephanie AjmeriaSet designers: Peter Stratford and Amanda De CastroCinematographer: Pawel Pogorzelski

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