Architecture Dissertation: Analysing Architecture through the Lens of Cinema

ANALYSING ARCHITECTURE THROUGH THE LENS OF CINEMA

By Paurush Singhal

191BARCH001

A Dissertation

Bachelor of Architecture

Sushant School of Art and Architecture, Sushant University

October 2021

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Serial Number

Content

Page No.

(i)

Acknowledgement

3

(ii)

Abstract

4

Chapter 1

Introduction 1.1 Context and Need of research 1.2 Aim and Objectives 1.3 Research Questions 1.4 Research Plan: Methodological approach 1.5 Scope and Limitations 1.6 Structure of Dissertation

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Chapter 2

Literature Review

9-16

Chapter 3

Analysis and Results

17-27

3.1 Framework for Analysis 3.2 Frame-by-frame Analysis: Blade Runner, Matrix and Tron Legacy 3.2 a) Cityscape 3.2 b) Streetscape 3.2 c) Interior 3.3 Interviews with Architects 3.4 Discussion Chapter 4

Interpretation and Conclusion

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References

29-30

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT I would like to express my sincere gratitude and thanks to my guide Professor Tanaya Verma of School of Art and Architecture, Sushant University, Gurugram, for her guidance, motivation, and valuable time and time puts given on the this dissertation.

I am also thankful to Dr. Neena Singh Zutshi, Dr. Purva Mujumdar, and Architect B. Avitesh for their guidance, support and insightful comments and immense knowledge throughout my dissertation.

My sincere thanks to the Course Coordinator Ar. Saniya Siddiqui and the teaching faculty of the school of Art and Architecture, Sushant University, for their valuable guidance and constant cooperation during my work.

I would also like to extend my thanks to the architects and students of architecture who participated and provided their valuable inputs through face-to-face interviews. I would also like to acknowledge the help and support of all my fellow classmates. Last but not the least, this work would have never been a success without the constant inspiration of my parents, family members and my friends.

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ABSTRACT

The research paper entails a detailed analysis of an exercise in filmmaking by director Ridl ey Scott in his 1982 movie “Blade Runner” and its sequel “Blade Runner 2049”. Movies such as these are considered to be pinnacles of filmmaking in their respective eras as they try to portray the problems faced by society in each era and display an extremist perspective of the world if destruction took over it. The research is an attempt to understand how the postmodernist, dystopian world was created by the filmmakers and what it means for architecture as it drives the narrative forward by not only being a setting in which the narrative exists but as a living organism, that is facing harsh circumstances and poor living conditions. Frame-byframe analysis of films of the genre of neo-futurism, dystopia and cyberpunk that include Blade Runner, Matrix and Tron Legacy, have been undertaken. A conceptual framework to observe the skyline, streetscape and interiors is adopted. The perspective of the people from the field of architecture including practicing architects and students have also been collated through interviews and analysed to complement the findings. The results highlight the importance of observations in watching and interpreting films of such genre, by the students of architecture and related creative disciplines. Through literature review and empirical analysis, this dissertation raises the significance of examining architecture through the lens of cinema.

Keywords: Blade Runner, Architecture, Dystopia, Neo-futurism, Science-fiction.

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CHAPTER 1: Introduction 1.1 CONTEXT AND NEED OF RESEARCH:

Researchers, architects, urban designers, and film makers have attempted to understand and portray the shift in predictive architecture within the context of movies through the science fiction genre. Film makers such as Ridley Scott have created richly layered cinematic experience in ‘Blade Runner’ by interpreting and displaying the architectural heritage of iconic buildings such as Bradbury building, FLW’s Ennis House, Robin Hood Gardens and Unite d‟ Habitation and the skyline of Hong Kong to portray the dystopian era of future Los Angeles.

The future of Blade Runner is shown to have retrofitted, industrial surroundings which was a groundbreaking insight in science-fiction since it showed a reflection in the future we are slowly moving towards and the horrors it holds. Films such as Blade Runner, Matrix, Tron Legacy, and Star Trek relate to the genre of neo-futurism, dystopia and cyberpunk. Literature indicates that over time authors as well as film makers have examined the word ‘building’ in movies and have interpreted how decisions are taken to create unique settings in films for providing everlasting experience for audience. There is potential for such assessment to be taken further through a systematic analysis of films as well as seek response of architects on this thematic area. Contextually, this dissertation advances the scholarly work by addressing an overarching question of – how the post- modernist, dystopian world was created by the filmmakers and what it means for the skyline, streetscape and interiors in architecture.

1.2 AIM AND OBJECTIVES

This research aims to analyse architecture through the lens of cinema with particular emphasis on the films such as Blade Runner and films of the science fiction genre.

The aim is reflected through the following specific three objectives: 1. Examine how the post- modernist, dystopian world was created by the filmmakers and what it means for architecture.

2. Analyse and interpret how films such as Blade Runner and films of related genre influence the architecture of future and get influenced for their artistic expressions.

3. Empirically analyse and interpret the perception of architects towards their contemporary conceptualization of spaces.

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1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Through particular focus on film such as ‘Blade Runner’, the aim is further explained through the following two broad research questions that this dissertation addresses: o How does the exaggerated architecture in cinema inspire the future of architecture? o Can we derive inspiration from cinematic architecture for our future design conceptualization?

1.4 RESEARCH PLAN: METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH

The research methodology approach leads into exploration of how narratives are using performance and characters explaining spatial theory informing the construction and design of new spaces. Discussing the specific case study of Blade Runner, I analyze and break down the integral use of construction and experimentation with performance understanding the context and the function of the space. The analysis discusses how film and architecture can combine as an experimental tool predicting outcomes and observing how new ways of theory and construction are achievable. Aids to this topic would be the different approaches to it such as economical, geographical and psychological approaches that discuss the lifespan of structures in relation to its inhabitants. Constantly through the research, an overarching theme of asking how the combination could catalyze brand new architectures and ultimately how the piece would question science-fiction film, how it is presenting behavioral architecture towards building the future and the effect of set design in a motion capture film and how story is impacted by it.

In short, the research plan is explained by the methodological approach adopted for the dissertation that consists of literature review followed by the empirical research. The empirical work consists of frame-by-frame analysis of 3 selected films from the same genre namely Blade Runner, Matrix and Tron Legacy. The analysis is focused on 3 dimensions of streetscape, cityscape and interiors. Further, the interviews have been conducted with 3 practicing, well established architects, and 3 students of architecture. Conclusions are drawn based on findings from the literature review and the empirical research. The methodological approach is presented below.

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RESEARCH PLAN: METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH

Research Aim (Analysing Architecture Through the Lens of Cinema)

Specific Three Objectives

Literature Review

Empirical Research

Identification of Parameters

Opinion of Architects and Students of Architecture (Interviews)

Frame by Frame Analysis of Case Examples Analysing the case example of 'Blade Runner'

- Blade Runner - Matrix - Tron: Legacy

Results and Analysis - Streetscape - Cityscape - Interors

Discussion and Conclusion

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1.5 SCOPE

The analysis in this research is based on 3 selected films, namely Blade Runner, Matrix and Tron Legacy. The focus of analysis is on streetscape, cityscape and interiors. Further the interviews have been conducted with 3 practicing architects and 3 students of architecture based on a few leading questions used to initiate the discussion.

1.6 STRUCTURE OF DISSERTATION

This dissertation is structured into 4 chapters. The Chapter 2 presents the literature review focusing on the interconnectivity between film and architecture with particular focus on the case of film Blade Runner. The Chapter 3 presents the analysis and results including the framework for Analysis, the frame-by-frame analysis of 3 films - Blade Runner, Matrix and Tron Legacy.

The focus of analysis of 3 films is presented through thhe identified dimensions of – Cityscape, Streetscape and Interiors. This chapter also presents outcome of the interviews with architects and students of architecture. The Chapter 4 presents the interpretation and conclusion drawn from the analysis undertaken and presented in Chapters 2 and 3. The references are listed at the end of the dissertation document.

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Chapter 2: Literature Review Ridley Scott’s 1982 movie “Blade Runner” was a science-fiction masterpiece in terms of visual storytelling and world-building. The movie was placed in the dystopian Earth in the year 2019 and it was a depiction of what 2019 would look like by neo-futurist Syd Mead under the direction of Ridley Scott. It imagined skyscrapers to be inhumanly tall and polluted air deep seated in the streets of a futuristic Los Angeles that does not see the light of day and realizes the importance of their ecology only now, keeping the remaining living animals as prized pets and over-cloned animals treated as inferiors to the natural creation of God. The same is done for Replicants (synthetic humans with para-physical capabilities to serve a purpose to the natural humans in this post-apocalyptic world) and the movie revolves around the hunt to kill the Replicants that have survived the Great War. Throughout the movie, they are escaping the hitman that is behind their lives and also try to plead to their creator, Eldon Tyrell to extend their lifespan, which is originally a meagre four years. The movie ends with them struggling to live till their last breath with remorse of losing their memories and experiences and whether those accounted for anything in their lives. The central theme of the movie is the discussion of what it means to be human to these clones and the value of emotions and memories, if you aren’t one. This is explored by making the Replicants more emotionally driven in the movies than the humans in their realization of life and their struggle to continue living. Emotions and life is valued in this movie, in a world that feels highly manufactured and artificial. Luxury is used to survive in a clean, lavish lifestyle ignoring the different environmental issues the world faces and resenting the need to rectify them in a meaningful manner and the poor are left in their cluttered streets with garbage everywhere suffering due to hunger, poverty, pollution with the urban landscapes flooded in hoardings and advertisements by huge corporations, in every direction you looked, creating its own identity and unique skyline that was context specific to Blade Runner.

The world of Blade Runner offers a fresh perspective on what the future of a world bound by destruction and chaos would look like and how, if not careful we could lose what we cherish most on Earth, i.e. the spirit of life, love, memories and new experiences. We could also lose touch with everything Earth has to offer us in terms of nature, shelter and the gift of life altogether. Everything would have to be manufactured, as the natural life cycle of organisms has been terminated and humanity has brought about the brink of its own extinction.

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This world is envisioned by Philip K. Dick in his novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” way back in the 1960s and his intention was to put the characters of the book in such an extreme conditions that really flesh out their reactions, emotions and psychology with respect to all the harsh brutalities of their world they must face. We see that with the remaining humans on Earth including our protagonist Rick Deckard and his wife who suffer from depression and loneliness in such an isolated world where they live in huge skyscrapers but the silence brought about because of the emptiness of these buildings haunts them. To compensate for that, they keep themselves occupied at all times by having some background noise on by the television at all times. It seems like a world that has been lived in and has passed its prime and now the survivors must adapt to these new conditions or take refuge on other habitable planets. These remaining Earthlings choose to live on this doomed settlement as it is the only place that felt familiar even though they had to face the consequences for this decision.

We analyze how this process of word building is interpreted in the movie and why and how those decisions have been taken to create and experience in the story that Ridley Scott wanted to tell.

To understand what the designers have intended to produce for the movie adaptation of “Blade Runner”, we take a closer look at Amar Sall’s research, Visions of the future in “Blade Runner”. His research aims to investigate the various sets of theories constructing a city on the edge of the future. He also tries to understand how a filmmaker uses production and sets and concept designers as narrators to portray his vision. The movie was filled with prominent depictions of Los Angeles in the future using classical and post-modernist themes to create a timeless piece of art. He analyzes how narratives are used to influence spaces and the people occupying them and how the users of any space are its life and soul and when you take the users away from the space, we remove the maintenance and care provided by users and are left with lifeless blocks that are unfit for living in. He considers economical, geographical and psychological approaches to study the lifespan of structures in relation to its inhabitants. This discussion is seen as an overarching theme of instigating this combination to be a catalyst for new architecture. He discusses how a science-fictional film is presenting behavioral architecture towards building the future and the effect of set design for the built environment.

Further, the discussion is taken towards the emergence of architecture in science fiction and the style of architecture in the movie. The future of Blade Runner is shown to have retrofitted, industrial surroundings which was a groundbreaking insight in science- fiction since it showed a reflection in the future we are slowly moving towards and the horrors it holds.

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Ridley Scott attempted at providing a setting that fit in the “tangible future” rather than an obscure interpretation.

The decaying dystopian setting of Los Angeles set forty years in the future depicted a grounded reality which is described as rising to cult status, covered in smog with its building reaching for the skies and its streets densely populated. The city encompassing itself in its central two gigantic pyramidal structures owned by the major genetic engineering industry, Tyrell Corporation.

Blade Runner uses the architectural heritage of Los Angeles to portray their dystopian world by taking famous landmarks used in popular culture that still today influence film such as Bradbury building, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Ennis House, Robin Hood Gardens and Unite d‟ Habitation. These examples of real structures are used for comparing its references, functions and influences in the film. Using these iconic, landmark buildings as references, Ridley Scott maintained and developed a richly layered cinematic experience still relevant today.

References to Archigram’s retrofitting Trickling Towers and Antonio Sant’ Elia’s Citta Nuovain in the movie’s conceptual outlook of the future are embedded within an amalgamation of Futurist and Postmodern styles. In contrast to these forward-looking approaches, the film’s design addresses forty years in the past to be able to predict forty years in the future. Setting the narrative in a futuristic L.A. provided the production with an edge above other science-fiction projects by having the film grounded in a place of predictive reality. Los Angeles was going through some major changes through the 1980s, as was the western world. Ridley Scott brought forth the commentary at that time which was topical in nature asking where the “city” was heading. “Scott declared that Blade Runner, depicts a world where we’re heading down now – class separation, the growing gulf between rich and poor, the population explosion – and it offers no solutions.” (Dietrich Neumann, 1996).

The megalopolis presents a run-down, rotting industrial landscape, an unwelcome sight, although the technologically advanced was not hopeful in visualizations unlike previous science fiction films throughout the decades. Blade Runner though a critical success failed to capture its audience’s attention causing it to be a commercial disaster.

In this text, he investigates particular theories, architects and case studies used in Blade Runner’s execution and inception and critique how they helped craft a landscape vision of the future, suggested by Fortin that “The film is employed to study how it might be uses a lens for analysis, by studying their ongoing narratives as reconstructions of the postmodern condition.”

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(Fortin, 2016) The duality of Architecture and film was contextualized and explored to understand the evolution and ultimately, the ground breaking impact Blade Runner provided.

Using testimonials of conceptual artists, set and production designers, architectural and film critics, and director Ridley Scott, he highlights important motifs and references that still hold importance today on paper and in practicality. This investigation tries to understand the shift in predictive architecture and exploring the narrative and domestic use within the context of the movie and the Science Fiction genre as a whole. Set designers and production designers were used to envisage this project along Rybczynski’s 17th century comparisons of hierarchical social classes in modern cinema, the question of whether architecture in film could be an experimental form of predictive science comes up. Through this, we wonder what Blade Runner is trying to show us about architecture, technology and the human condition.

“The early Eighties established a landscape that has hung over the past 20 years” (Forbin, 2016). The author then describes dystopian visions as a product of history as a concept.

The relation between architecture and film as a transcendent combination crafting unique studies of the built and visual forming a complimentary relationship growing through the 20 th century and that continues till day. Its pairing, Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927) famously arose as a study of a distinctively built future with its evolving society leaving an impact on us. From these revolutionary visions, architectural representations on the big screen have since increased exponentially. Its function being a tool for analysis, narratives, prediction and development are able to be explored to its full extent through the Science Fiction genre. Forming existential questioning and a strong philosophical basis for Science Fiction in film begins to escalate its visual representation in media and develop as mainstream culture as technologies. Being of particular importance, both space and the built environment within both media and genre plays an extremely important role of realizing fictitious worlds and their surroundings whilst giving them weight and extreme likeness in relatable terms to past and present locations.

“Metropolis” release began the emergence of visions of a picturesque labyrinth of cities, informing the majority of science fiction projects in cinema. Providing their own grounded realities, its architecture is treated like real-life structures. This made many other productions question how architectural style and theory can develop and present a striking vision of the future, that’s relatable to advance an everyday life. Detached realities and distorted visions of the far-fetched futures were visualized by cinema that seemed clinical, utopian and impossible.

Integral set design in realizing the backbone to help the narrative being understood by the audience was highlighted by Stanley Kubrick’s, 2001: ASpace Odyssey. A narrative direction, 12

questions of character motivations and most importantly, audience recognition was helped driven by its constructed settings. “Joy is the essential and final ingredient of science fiction, the discovery of newness” (Dick, 1970).

The sixties through the eighties gave the Science Fiction production a much needed boom. During a period of strong suburbanization and great economic uncertainty, all audiences needed an insight of a positive and hopeful insight to the possibilities of the future. Studios created endless projects proving box-office successes due to the “Golden Age” of ScienceFiction but lacking the grounded reality needed for a meaningful and impactful outlook, particularly in response to events such as the 60‟s Space Race. This era was largely defined by movies like Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Wars and Silent Running by developing on influences provided in the previous decades and began crafting Science Fiction as a well-defined movement and not only as a genre. “The combination of 2001- a threshold film that presented science-fiction as I thought it should- and Star Wars convinced me that that was a great future in science fiction films.” (Scott, 1984). Written at the height of the Vietnam War was written the source material of Dick’s novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (1968) thematically resembling the horrors of war atrocities. The haunting philosophi c al reflections on what’s truly amidst a mass brutality age reflects themes of what it truly means to be human, themes also concurrent with Nazi Germany. These contrasting events of suburbanization and packed, run-down urbanized streets limited to middle class users helped the influence the central theme of the production, dystopia. It had never been visualized at such a scale before, capitalism and corporatism aggravating its focus, a heavy by-product enforcing the narrative of the future. The imposing Tyrell Corporation have defunct the huge signposts of Coca-Cola and Pan Am Cushion representing the large pyramidal structures at the heart of 2019 L.A., the „Replicant” factory. Large brutal blocks, protruding from the forest of skyscrapers littered with commercial advertisements support the significance of these themes and by the representation of this architecture.

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Interiors of Bradbury Building in Downtown L.A. Source: Amar Sall

Bradbury Building skylight modified for the movie Source: Syd Mead

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Dystopian skyline of 2019 Los Angeles Source: Syd Mead

Nighttime shot of the film set

Source: Syd Mead

Concept Art of Downtown L.A. Source: Syd Mead

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“The film, ‟exploits the metaphorical and practical values of a home” by constructing spatial relationships through montage and camera angles that directly engage architecture with the narrative.” (Tobe, 2007) Motifs littered throughout Blade Runner signifying the Home, the City and the use of the Replicant.

Throughout the movie, the narrative is the richest when the domesticated environments of central characters are introduced to us not purely through exposition, but more by the use of spatial qualities and particular architectures.

Three settings state this, they being the homes of Eldon Tyrell (creator of Replicants and Founder of the Tyrell Corporation), Rick Deckard (the protagonist of the movie) and JF Sebastian (a genetic engineer designing Replicants). These three dwellings reflect an intimate relationship between user and building since they use real life locations in Los Angeles.

Rick Deckard’s Apartment, wholly

being shot in Frank Lloyd Wright’s Ennis House alongside partially Tyrrell’s home that was also being filmed on a real set at Burbank Studio, creating narrative tension due to the familiarity of the existent spatial qualities. Sebastian’s home, on the contrary was constructed and filmed within the iconic Bradbury Building in downtown Los Angeles. Both these structures are vehicles that explore a postindustrial notion of having a home in heavily urbanized America, in a future not too far from our own. Cultural iconography shines through the scenes signified in the use of the buildings and when used on screen mean more than just as some supporting character during the scene. The aesthetic, heritage and build of Columbian, Mayan, Victorian and Modern ornamentation provide decorated insight into the evolution of the future of the civilizations and through the characters, the domestic narratives.

This chapter through the review of literature, helps us in understanding how the post- modernist, dystopian world was created by the filmmakers and what it means for architecture and its future. The chapter also indicates the importance of architectural dimensions of streetscape, cityscape and interiors of buildings as displayed in the films.

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Chapter 3: Analysis & Results Genetic designer JF Sebastian lives alone in an empty Bradbury Building, his apartment alluding to Rybcyznski’s 17th century “bourgeois”, in contrast to Tyrrell’s “aristocrat” castle. Sebastian alternates between socializing with the lower classes on the streets and his superior, Tyrell, his home reflecting a middle ground he represents, linking both the worlds. Spatially busy, the confines of Sebastian’s home transform the space into a social theatre, welcoming domestic life in all aspects. The use of Bradbury Building adds to the futuristic narrative by providing rich oddness to the futuristic narrative. The Bradbury building designed

by George Wyman in its Renaissance Revival Architectural style that is known for its interactive courtyards and amazing light quality internally but it is used as a dead ruin in the movie that is abandoned and used solely by a toy maker that uses his toys as his only company in the entire building. The sun didn't shine through the corridors anymore leaving great architecture to be futile in the current state of the world because it couldn’t serve its primary function of building an interactive community due to abandoning of the building and the city, as a whole. The environment created creates an almost dream-like, distinctive quality signifying a blur between creation and death, android and human, numbness and feeling.

Plan of Deckard apartment crafted from Ennis House Source: Amar Sall

Ennis

Tile shown

throughout Deckard’s Apartment

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Ennis House, as its function in Blade Runner, transformed into a several hundred story skyscraper, provided the central conundrum of the narrative, is our protagonist Rick Deckard a Replicant? The puzzle which is most decipherable through architecture. Shot on site, Lloyd Wright’s design is utilized to help break down the protagonist through his dwelling and manages to do it in three aspects.

Firstly, its relationship with the Tyrell Pyramids’ Pre- Columbian architectural history, conjuring up memories of slavery and cruelty, pointing at the question of his humanity. Secondly, the extremely busy interior creating an extremely busy interior, creating an analytical space of alienation and intimacy and finally the home’s role as a “Replicant” itself, all aspects alluding to Deckard’s existence and by extension his lover, Rachael. The interior of his ninety-seventh floor apartment is as busy as the bustling city streets below reflecting his oriental and Mesoamerican aesthetic through the particular use of ornamentation, a recurring aspect shining through Ennis House. The open plan design of the apartment

negates

any

possibility for a physical boundary; they don’t exist, rooms flowing into one another without any physical privacy. An intimate exploration of the relationship between its interiors and exteriors is shown in the columns within and without, a second recurring element reminding the viewer of the ancient and classical foundations and influences still apparent in the city. The ornamentation of Ennis House provides the director a way to use the building as a secondary character, its recognizable concrete tiles that litter the walls, 16x16inches, compose a repetitive and modular sequence, with every architectural space being dominated by mechanical equipment and mainly the Mayan tile.

The research attempts to understand the direction a filmmaker tries to take in terms of his production design and tries to understand why certain actions are taken and what they mean as a symbolism that Science Fiction stands for. This is relevant in the architecture community as we can understand better ways of expressing oneself as members of the society bringing about social change through our work and being socially relevant throughout the ages.

Blade Runner created an

architectural heritage that is layered and set an entire race of filmmakers after him to explore the Pandora’s Box that was opened. It can be taken up by future filmmakers and visionaries to adapt such motifs and expressions of change and apply them in narratives to tell effective story succeeding thematically and morally.

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3.1 FRAMEWORK FOR ANALYSIS A framework has been developed based on literature review and informal discussions with an architect and a film maker. The framework is focused on analyzing the films of the genre of neo-futurism, dystopia and cyberpunk and do focus on the specific dimension of (i) cityscape; (ii) streetscape; and (iii) interiors of architecture. This framework presented below has been used for the frame-byframe analysis of films that include Blade Runner, Matrix and Tron Legacy.

NEO-FUTURISM

CYBERPUNK SKYLINE

FRAME WORK STREETSCAPE

INTERIORS

DYSTOPIA

Framework for frame-by-frame analysis

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3.2 FRAME-BY-FRAME ANALYSIS: BLADE RUNNER, MATRIX AND TRON LEGACY 3.2 a) Cityscape:

  

Blade Runner's style of urban spaces is derived from cities such as Tokyo and Hong Kong.

The cityscape shown in Matrix trilogy is the futuristic dooms-day scenario with high-rise and alien-like forms for a building.

Tron has presented its cityscape in a much more futuristic way using primary elements like straight lines along 20 with sheer contrast between neon lights and black buildings.

Blade Runner is a sparkling world with a tall building scene, however, closer assessment uncovers that organized inside this milieu are similitudes of a tragic culture. Across the highest point of the high rises are gigantic neon notices and TV screens that undertaking messages down so that individuals might be able to see, showing that this is a universe of complete industrialisation. These highlights give fundamentally the primary wellspring of light all through the city. The by and large mise-en-scene is dark and agonizing, similar to the late 40s and 50s film noir, and the difference between light and dim here portrays subdued social apprehensions of authoritarian control. The superstructures that we see predominate the more modest, frail structures and disintegrating design; this twofold resistance subsequently makes a high/low spatial purposeful anecdote for the lower class-the specialists who live beneath in the dystopian roads, discouraged and dehumanized; and the elite, the people who live in skyscraper lofts over the remainder of the city, profiting from the workers.

Pyramids are model Egyptian images of force and everlasting status. Ascending high up inside this city, they indicate a fate of riches and progress and mechanical victory. Tyrell's office is weighed down with rich things, brilliant sculptures and unpredictably cut columns. However, it is the cinematography procedures here that are vital to addressing this grand inside. The warm, brilliant tints are an unmistakable difference to the remainder of the city that we have been presented to. The way that Tyrell's office is found so high up means that individuals who live in the most noteworthy, most esteemed spots are plainly elites.

Matrix tosses light to the strained idea of the spiritual condition of contemporary social orders by not just with the layered philosophical reference and questions yet additionally with a wide scope of determinations (albeit disputable at times) inside itself. Starting here of view, the qualification between the innovation of the twentieth century and the new state we are in as we enter the 21st century has been built in the premise of the film and contrarily meant as a division between this present reality and the fantasy land.

Joe Kosinski, in Tron: Legacy was motivated by extremist engineering of the 1930s and '40s, the design of Albert Speer. It's the possibility of space power and control in engineering and you see the sort of fixation on evenness and points used to make the city of the wonderful framework.

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3.2 b) Streetscape:

 The street level becomes an access corridor and really nothing more. If you are forced to live there by economic accident or whatever, it's a very unpleasant place to be. You get this congestion of cars and big machines that are just there  Matrix seems to have aimed to gain a strong cinema language by emphasizing the modern style of the 30s, 40s and 50s22 by strengthen it with this theory of modern socio-economics.

The Los Angeles of Blade Runner is remarkable for its conspicuous difference from the Los Angeles of today. Set 30 years in the future at the hour of delivery, the city is everything except unrecognizable put something aside for notable tourist spots like the Bradbury Building. Blade Runner's Los Angeles has a thick metropolitan centre with transcending high rises heaped close to each other. It highlights road levels outside business sectors and cafés. Interstates are prominently missing and the roads are for walkers as it were. In all actuality, vehicles fly through the sky rather than on the ground and it's difficult to call a city weighed down with harmful material and deadly robots walkable, however, it's as yet a long way from the rambling, vehicle driven Los Angeles we know today.

The head of Tron: Legacy began with checking out the tasteful of the principal Tron film road sees and took a gander at a great deal of the first outlines by idea creator, a ton of work they'd done had propelled him. He envisions how the roads would look like in current days – the materiality and the photorealism of the world. His dreams were to cause it to feel all the more genuine, so he utilizes simple to perceived materials like glass and steel and cement, and he made the moderate surfaces and those strips of light all through his scenes.

The Los Angeles of today is known as a mixture, home to a wide assortment of ethnic, strict, and social foundations. By and large, nonetheless, the city has been isolated along racial and financial lines. While Blade Runner may not present an all the more socially or evenhanded Los Angeles, it depicts a city set apart by the combination of these social impacts rather than their partition. Amazing bulletins projected onto the sides of the building highlight basically Asian ladies, language takes an exceptionally metropolitan shape as half and half cityspeak, and one scene even shows Jews, Hare Krishnas, and underground rockers sharing a broke city walkway.

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3.2 c) Interior:

In the movies the material world of the real time is by design develops a recognizable machine age futurism. This design language is borrowed from the “organic design” language which can be defined as the opposite of the modern geometrical design.

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The particular areas in the film were picked as a portrayal of a "brief" search for the film's 2019 setting. It's intriguing to take note that the Bradbury Building and Ennis House are in the recovery style, along these lines referring to a past time in engineering. The Bradbury Building was built in the Romanesque Revival style and the Ennis House was developed in the Mayan Revival style. In utilizing structures that were planned in the restoration style, Blade Runner involves more seasoned structures as a method of associating us into the far off future. At the end of the day, though a future world could cause a group of people to feel disengaged from the real world, more established structures in the restoration style cause this world to feel significantly more natural.

The notable Bradbury Building, nonetheless, is the focal point of the film. Most of the activity, including the peak of the film, happens inside the structure. The Bradbury Building is a structural milestone and is situated on 304 Broadway, West Third Street in Los Angeles. The structure was dispatched by Los Angeles tycoon Lewis L. Bradbury and was built by George Wyman from a unique plan from Sumner Hunt. With regards to the sci-fi history of the structure, the plan of the structure was impacted by Edward Bellamy's 1887 sci-fi book Looking Backward, which portrays an idealistic culture in 2000. In his book, he portrays the normal business working as a "huge corridor brimming with light, gotten not the only one from the windows on all sides, yet from the arch, the place of which was 100 feet above... The dividers and roof were frescoed in smooth colors, determined to relax without retaining the light which overflowed the inside." This impact as far as configuration is plainly found in the Bradbury Building.

Above all else, the straightforward current language particularly presents its impact in the principal half of the twentieth Century brought into the world because of a response development against the neo-old style pattern in the eighteenth and nineteenth-century which are called “Arts and Crafts”, “Japonism” developments.

These developments think about ornamentation as wrongdoing and characterize themselves in the social ground. Present-day makers understand the language of a better approach for life where the social change can be led by plan inside the developments like Futurism, Dadaism, Constructivism and the School of Bauhaus.

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3.3

INTERVIEWS

This section presents the outcomes of the interviews held with architects and students of architecture. The purpose of these interviews is to seek the perception of practicing architects towards the interrelationships between films and architecture. 3 practicing and well established architects were interviewed face-toface for around 30-35 minutes devoted for each interview. The discussion with each architect was based on the following 2 leading questions: 

How do you think architects take inspiration from the film for futuristic designs?



How do architects integrate the inspiration into their design to transform the hypothetical conceptual space into a practical design?

The students of architecture were also interviewed and the purpose was to gather their perception on how they view the interrelationships between films and architecture. 3 students of 3rd and 4th year of bachelor in architecture programme were interviewed face-to-face for around 15-20 minutes devoted for each interview.

The discussion with each student was based on the following 2 leading questions: 

How do you think architects and other students of architecture take inspiration from the films for their futuristic designs?



How do architects and students of architecture integrate the inspiration into their design to transform the hypothetical conceptual space into a practical design?

Results from interviews: The outcome of interviews highlight the following key points as presented below: -

The architects do not get inspired from one specific film only rather it is multiple films that over time may influence their design approach

-

In some instances architects also draw inspirations from a film and the content in its specific scenes that may focus on buildings and any other elements of built environment

-

The story line of some films do also inspire the thought process of architects

-

The design development is a process that gets influenced through tangible aspects of built and unbuilt forms but also intangible aspects relating to style of presentation, storyline, settings, character, play of light and sound, digital

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technology, imagination of director, change in behavior of users of built spaces, photography and many other dimensions that may have a link to architecture or related creative disciplines.

-

The students of architecture also are observant of several aspects that have a link to architecture.

-

They do draw inspiration from different tangible and intangible aspects of films while noticing specific features and elements used in films in interpreting and displaying the built forms.

-

They do adopt as well as adapt the context, specific setting and elements from films that they use in developing their concept designs and specific details.

-

The science fiction genre films are of greater interest to them and the projection of futuristic architecture in some cases do have strong impression on their visual interpretation, perception and thought process towards design development.

-

The design approach of students get influenced through multiple type of observations that they acquire from the real as well as the virtual world of films and digital content such as web series, games etc. on the internet.

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Chapter 4: Interpretation and Conclusion This dissertation examines the work done by other scholars through review of relevant literature that helps in seeking response to the overarching question of how the post-modernist, dystopian world was created by the filmmakers and what it means for the skyline, streetscape and interiors in architecture. Particular case example of the film Blade Runner has been analysed through the literature that provide us the insight into the inter-relationships between films and architecture.

Further to examine the films of the genre of science fiction Blade Runner along with Martix and Tron Legacy have been analysed, A framework focusing on skyline, streetscape and interiors have been helpful in taking a structured approach for frame-by-frame analysis. A comparative analysis across these films demonstrate how select views had been derived from real life architectural situations thus assisting us in interpreting the linkages between films and architecture.

Through the interviews with practicing architects and students, this dissertation also provides us with the following learnings for the students of architecture: 

Watch films of diverse genre and particularly that are futuristic in concept, interpretation and use of technology.



Be observant of the unique architectural elements and settings in films and any other relevant digital content.



Be cognitively alert to capture any architectural inspiration drawn by the directors and filmmakers.



Observe the uniqueness in both tangible and intangible dimensions in films such as conceptualization, story-line, settings, character, play of light and sound, digital technology, imagination of director, change in behavior of users of built spaces, photography and many other dimensions that may have a link to architecture or related creative disciplines.



Develop your own style, concept and design by deriving inspiration from multiple films and other creative contents both from the real world and the virtual world.

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REFERENCES 1. Amar Sall, A.S., published May16, 2018. „Visions of the Future in “Blade Runner”. Retrived from: https://issuu.com/amar_sall/docs/final_dissertation_w_cover.

2. Mario Pegas Brianugraha, M.P.B., published May 23, 2018. The Element of Continuity between Cinema & Architecture: Part One: Blade Runner 2049.

Retrieved from: https://issuu.com/brianugraha/docs/br2049_final_mampus_pdf 3. Starburst- Phil Edwards 1982, „The Blade Cuts‟, no. 51, pg 19-30.

4. Deitrich Neumann. (1996). Film Architecture: From Metropolis to Blade Runner.

Munich: Prestel Pub. 5. Dick, P. K. (1970). Maze of Death. New York: Doubleday.

6. Forbin, F. G. (2016). Hell Bound: New Gothic Art. Laurence King Publishers.

7. Fortin, D. T. (2016). Architecture and Science-Fiction Film: Philip K. Dick and the Spectacle of Home. London: Routledge.

8. Scott, R. (1984). Ridley Scott: Interviews. Mississippi: Univ. Press of Mississippi.

9) Tobe, R. (2007).

9. Film, Architecture and Spatial Imagination. California: Routledge.

10. Bhaskaran, L, (2005), Designs of the Times, Roto Vision SA, Switzerland.

11. Crochet, T, (2004), Designer‟s Guide to Furniture Styles, Pearson Education Ltd., New Jersey.

12. Danahay, M., A., Rieder, D, (2003), “Matrix, Marx ve Kalem Pil Hayat”, Matrix ve Felsefe, s.253-263, Güncel Yayıncılık, İstanbul. Irwin, W, (2003), Matrix ve Felsefe, Güncel Yayıncılık, İstanbul 13. Jameson, F, (1994), “Postmodernizm yada Geç Kapitalizmin Kültürel Mantığı”, Postmodernizm, Kıyı Yayınları, İstanbul.

14. Knight, D, McKnight, G, (2003), “Gerçek Tür ve Görsel Felsefe”, Matrix ve Felsefe, s.221- 237, Güncel Yayıncılık, İstanbul.

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15. Lucie-Smith, E, (2004), Furniture a Concise History, Thames&Hudson Ltd, London 16. Gombrich, E. H., (1992), Sanatın Öyküsü, Remzi Kitabevi yayınları, İstanbul

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